Marketplace · Monday, September 28, 2026
Volunteer firefighters in rural areas like Sublette County, Wyoming, are facing a significant shortage, with numbers down 200,000 nationwide over the past two decades. This decline is attributed to increased demands on people's time, multiple job requirements, and the cost of living. The lack of volunteers forces existing crews to alter strategies during emergencies and strains the operational capacity of fire departments.
“More than half, well more than half of the firefighters in this country are volunteers. And to boot, the number of those volunteers is falling. We're down 200,000 of them over the past couple of decades. Almost every state has a shortage.”
“So has there been times you guys have to change your strategy because you don't have six guys?”
“Absolutely. Every fire. Pretty much. Pretty much.”
“If we don't have volunteers, we're pretty much sunk as a county. And there's no one coming if you don't volunteer to do this.”
“The volunteer fire service is saving billions. I'm talking about billions with a B. Billions of dollars for the taxpayers of this nation.”