Ohio Fire Marshal Launches New Volunteer Firefighter Recruitment Portal

COLUMBUS, OH -As the State of Ohio continues to experience a decline in the number of volunteer firefighters, the Ohio Department of Commerce Division of the State Fire Marshal’s Office is launching a new, innovative portal to easily connect Ohioans with available opportunities at their local firehouse.

Out of about 1,200 fire departments in Ohio, approximately 70% rely on volunteers but the significant decline in volunteer fire service is jeopardizing its future. While the number of emergency calls is increasing across the state, the number of volunteer volunteer firefighters is decreasing.

From 2018 to 2021 there was a 6.5% decrease in the number of volunteer firefighters meanwhile, from 2018 to 2020, there was a 9% increase in calls.

Kevin Reardon, the State Fire Marshal, says the Division’s new state-of-the-art Volunteer Firefighter Recruitment Portal aims to address these challenges by streamlining the recruit process and making it easier for those who are interested in joining a volunteer fire service.

“We’ve got to have recruitment of new people into the volunteer fire service, which I think we’re making a little bit of progress in,” Reardon explained. “But we also need to make sure we retain the volunteers that we have. Just 3 years ago the average age of the volunteer in Ohio was 55, it’s now 58, that’s too old to be banging around on the back of a firetruck but it happens every day, all over Ohio, because these volunteers are so committed to their communities, they just won’t leave until there’s somebody new.”

The way the portal works is you enter basic location and contact information into the portal, that will then send an inquiry directly to the nearest volunteer fire departments to you, finally the fire chiefs of those departments are notified and will reach out as soon as they’re able.

“We started this over three years ago when Governor DeWine established the task force on the volunteer fire service.” Reardon said. “He’s been deeply involved in this issue for a long time, even before he became Governor, he knows volunteer fire departments and fire departments well. So this is a critical issue for him, it’s a critical issue for Ohioans.”

If you are interested in volunteering at your local fire department, you can head to the State Fire Marshal’s Recruitment Portal.