Abstract
Communities throughout the United States face a public safety concern in providing fire protection and emergency medical services (EMS) due to the nationwide decline in volunteerism. Two-thirds of the nation’s 30,000 fire departments are volunteer-run, and since 2015, the number of volunteer firefighters has declined from 814,850 to 682,600. EMS organizations face an equally daunting dilemma with up to a 55% attrition rate in emergency medical technicians and paramedics. Pennsylvania has been especially hard hit. Benjamin Franklin founded the first volunteer fire department in the nation in Pennsylvania. In this state, the number of volunteer firefighters has dropped from a 1970s high of 350,000 to just under 70,000 in 2016, and the number of EMS providers is down from more than 30,000 to a scarce 17,000. This paper will discuss the financial implications of this nationwide shortage and explore the cost of lives lost due to the closure of fire and EMS agencies throughout the United States.
Recommended Citation
ash, john r.
(2023)
"THE DEATH OF VOLUNTEERISM IN AMERICA AND THE TRUE COST TO SOCIETY,"
Pennsylvania Economic Review: Vol. 30:
No.
2, Article 6.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.65193/3067-8080.1034