Volunteer firefighters are a breed unlike any other.

They are your neighbors, your friends and your family.They are Little League coaches, moms and dads, history buffs, sports fanatics, disc jockeys and involved in various community organizations.They are factory workers, health care professionals, office managers, 911 dispatchers and more.Volunteer firefighters alsohave a drive to enter a hard profession that comes without pay, takes hours from their family time and can be dangerous or even deadly. They have dedication to their community and a strong desire to help others.Volunteers are on the front lines at crash scenes, fires and other emergencies, and will work tirelessly to make sure you are safe while sacrificing their own safety.They are the ones running into a burning building while everyone else is running out.The number of volunteer firefighters in Pennsylvania has declined over the decades from over 300,000 in the 1970s to about 50,000 today.This creates a challenge of finding a balance between keeping up with the growing budgets to maintain a department, the equipment and vehicles; fighting fires; responding to emergencies; and spending time with their families.Recently, Pennsylvania Fire Commissioner Timothy Solobay visited Carbon County to speak to the fire chiefs about problems the state faces when it comes to fire protection.Throughout the commonwealth, he is seeing volunteer departments all facing the same problems.Funding"People are tired of fundraising," Solobay said. "Fundraising should be because you want to and not because you have to."But in Pennsylvania, that is not the case.Fundraising is a normal way of life for all volunteer fire departments in the region, whether it be monthly breakfasts, wing nights, bingos, cookie sales or festivals. The men and women who volunteer their time to protect the community are also finding that they are forced to continually sell things just to keep the departments' doors open, the apparatus up-to-date and the equipment in shape to protect them when disaster strikes."We need to engage local governments more," Solobay said. "Collectively, volunteer firefighters are saving municipalities across the state almost $10 billion in local tax savings annually."If we divided that up between all the municipalities in the commonwealth who depend on volunteers, and then had to replace them with a career department, on average it would cost anywhere between $2.5 and $3 million per community," he said.That would further break down, depending on population, to an average of $1,000 to $1,500 extra per person in a family to cover a career department.Solobaysaid counties and municipalities can support fire departments financially to help close the gap in a fire department's budget."A community giving $100,000, maybe $150,000 or even $200,000 to help a fire department so they aren't wasting time raising the money to do the things they do for the community. It could go a lot better than down the road (if volunteers continue to disappear) saying 'Why didn't we help them and now it costs between $2 million and $3 million (for a career department) instead of that $150,000,'" Solobay said.But local communities face a balancing act when it comes to finances. Inflated costs for everyday operations leave gaps in their already tight budgets, forcing officials to make painful choices - raise taxes for residents who are already stretched thin financially to allow for additional spending or forgo a tax increase and either maintain the course or cut services and projects.ManpowerSolobay asked how many fire chiefs in Carbon County were in their 30s. No one raised their hands.A few chiefs raised their hands when asked about being in their 40s."The rest of us are gray hairs," the 38-year Canonsburg volunteer firefighter said. "And we're still out there doing this."Last year, Pennsylvania led the country in line-of-duty deaths with 10."Nine of out those 10 were old gray hairs trying to do what they did 30 years before because no 20- or 30-year-olds are out there volunteering," Solobay said.The problem, he pointed out, is the younger generations are busier than ever."Husbands and wives are both working," he said. "Kids are in a lot more activities than they used to be and (firefighting) is a dangerous job. There are only one or two occupations more dangerous than what we do as firefighters."It is also proven that 60 to 70 percent of all firefighters will develop some kind of cancer because of the materials they are exposed to during emergencies.But how does the state fix this problem, Solobay asked.No one issure of a solution.In today's society, volunteer fire departments are seeing an aging force rather than a growing one.The majority of departments are led by volunteers who have been in the field for decades.The problem with this is today's volunteer firefighters may not be around a decade from now, and without younger people to replace them, departments are forced to double or triple up on a response to an emergency that may not be in their community.SolutionsMoving forward, Solobay is working with state legislatorsto help volunteer fire departments.His department is waiting on a new state budget, which would provide funding to take the 159 programs offered through the fire academy and community college partners and digitize it to create web-based training.This, he said, would cut down on the amount of travel time needed for textbook trainings and would allow new volunteers to take the course at their convenience and old-timers with a way to review the material they have been practicing for decades.State Sens. Lisa Baker and Sean Wiley have proposed legislation that would allow municipalities to waive local earned income taxes for volunteer first responders.Solobay said his department is also working to expand the use of relief funds, which are generated based on a 2 percent premium on all fire and casualty homeowner's insurance.Last year, $64 million was distributed to the 2,600-plus departments in Pennsylvania.Solobay said he hopes to raise that premium 1 percent, which would generate approximately $34 million annually.About $17 million of that would be added to relief funds distributed to the 2,600 plus departments, while the remaining $17 million would be used to fund training programs, reimburse departments for training and expand grants and loan programs in place.