This is the 100th anniversary of Fire Prevention Week.

Most people don’t think about the local fire departments until they need them.

But what if you needed help and nobody came? What if your house was on fire or you were trapped inside a vehicle in an accident and couldn’t get anyone to come to your aid?

Unfortunately, this is becoming a feared reality in some locations. To make sure there is a turnout of responders locally, dispatchers often send two or three fire departments to every call. It’s because too often a single fire department doesn’t have enough volunteers to answer the call - especially in daytime hours when many volunteers are at work with fulltime jobs.

If you’ve ever been to a fire scene, you’ll notice that many of the responders are older people who have been serving their respective communities for decades. It’s not unusual to find active firefighters who are in their 60s and 70s.

If you talk to them, they’ll tell you how difficult it is to get younger people involved.

Locally, fire departments consist of volunteers. Volunteering doesn’t mean just answering fire alarms. There are long hours of training, there’s cleaning and maintenance duties, there’s fundraising to pay for equipment and maintenance and there’s the inconvenience of responding even if it means letting your food get cold at the dinner table or having to jump out of bed at 3 in the morning in mid-winter for what might only be a trash can fire.

Our area has always prided itself on having the volunteer fire departments that are second-to-none in being knowledgeable, equipped and anxious to serve. The latter aspect is becoming less assured.

One reason is fewer young people are willing to get involved. They don’t want the long hours of evening training. If they are interested, football practice or other interests interfere.

Jay Michalik, assistant chief of the Mahoning Valley Fire Company, knows the importance of getting younger people interested. He got involved because as a youngster, he lived very close to the fire house, saw the volunteers responding and wanted to do something to help them.

Michalik and Chief Mark Ebbert annually coordinate the Community Day event at the fire company. Although the main reason for this is to say “thank you” for the support of the community, an ulterior reason is to get young people interested in the department. “It’s really important to get younger people involved,” he said. “It’s our future.”

Wayne Nothstein and Paul Mriss of the Lehighton Fire Department have been responding for more than 50 years and you’ll still see them at active emergency scenes. Both have sons who have followed in their footsteps. Both are also in their 70s and their days as firefighters are probably winding down so hopefully dedicated individuals will fill their eventual voids.

Without volunteers, local municipalities would have to have paid fire departments. The tax increases needed to support paid departments in a small town would be financially incomprehensible.

Possibly an alternative could be the establishment of a statewide program whereby firefighting and emergency response could be an elective in high schools. Some colleges have courses and the students can respond. Northampton Area Community College and Harrisburg Community College both have fire science courses.

With high schools, the state could finance certified instructors with funds raised through insurance premiums. It would cost citizens a lot less for an instructor in high school than paying for a paid fire department with 15 or 20 employees.

The students would be required to join the local fire department and attend a specified amount of evening training with existing, older members. They would be permitted, after a certain amount of training, to leave classes to respond to emergency calls. Those of junior firefighter age status would have the same restrictions as present junior firefighters.

People in these classes would not only be trained in firefighting but first aid, respecting rank, pump operations, communication and teamwork.

It would count as a high school course.

This serves only as a concept. Individuals with more expertise would have to lay out the groundwork before such school course could be implemented

It’s worth consideration, though. It would mean individuals would respond to fires during the day when volunteers are scarce. It would keep young people interested in firefighting. It would create a sense of accomplishment and pride for those who participate.