JEREMY P. KELLEY
Dayton Daily News

Kettering city officials said constant turnover in the volunteer firefighter ranks is one reason the city is switching its volunteer staff to a new part-time, hourly pay system Oct. 1.

"It's a change in the fire service - 50 years ago, people volunteered because it was the right thing to do," Kettering City Manager Mark Schwieterman said. "Now, a lot of our younger folks want to get into the fire business. They use volunteer positions to get a foot in the door and get trained, and we have a difficult time retaining them."

Kettering Fire Chief Bob Miles said pay is a factor in that difficulty. Currently, volunteers are paid $10 per run, regardless of whether it's a quick ambulance run or a four-hour house fire. They also accrue points based on the type of service, paying them an additional small amount. The new hourly system will start part-timers who have Level 1 EMT certification at $12 to $18 per hour when they are staffing a fire station or responding to a call from home.

"Now when (beginning firefighters) look at possible places to work, they can look at the townships, they can look at us, and we can be competitive," Schwieterman said.

Ryan Parker, president of the Kettering Volunteer Firefighters, said he does the job because he loves Kettering, but he said adding the incentive could allow Kettering to maintain staffing in line with surrounding communities.

Parker said the new system offers the ability to move some part-timers to different stations when needed. Kettering's volunteers currently respond on call to a single assigned fire station near their home. The new system will allow part-timers whose own stations are well-staffed to fill in at other stations that are low on volunteers and might otherwise go out of service temporarily.

Bernie Ingles, president of the Ohio Fire Chiefs Association, said Kettering is one of three or four departments in Ohio currently looking at hiring part-time staff to cut down on expensive overtime. Ingles said volunteer ranks have suffered because of the economy and the time commitment needed to maintain state certification.

Parker said Kettering's part-timers will still have to put in on-call hours from home, and Miles said they'll have to live within a five-minute drive from one of the city's seven fire stations.

Parker expressed confidence in the new system, saying it's the product of lengthy meetings involving volunteers, career staff and administration each month since October. Both Ryan Parker and David Parker, president of Kettering's firefighters union representing full-timers, say the relationship between their two groups, which had been strained, is improving dramatically and should help serve the city better.

"We're all on the same team," Ryan Parker said. "The key is improving the service to the community and maintaining Kettering people involved."


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Volunteer decline leads to paid part-time firefighters in Kettering

Copyright 2010 Dayton Newspapers, Inc.
September 13, 2010