“I put the report out this spring as a wake-up call,” Scanlon said. “To wake people up to the reality that report indicates that we’re facing a public safety crisis, if we’re not already in one, when it comes to less volunteers. And a very difficult landscape when it comes to recruiting and retaining both volunteers and, frankly, career firefighters.”
Scanlon said he found that volunteer firefighter ranks have shrunk by nearly 63% since 2016.
The South Meriden Volunteer Fire Department recently announced it was closing at the end of 2025 after 117 years, and the Stratford Fire Department is contending with a shortage. Earlier this year, the Torringford Volunteer Fire Department announced it was closed its doors for good after 68 years.
“This problem is not going away, and it’s going to get worse before it gets better,” Scanlon said. “You’re going to continue seeing these stories, and this is an issue that I obviously used my platform to spotlight earlier this year. I’m going to continue working with the fire service to figure out what the solution is because we can’t keep kicking the can on this because every week is going to be another news story about another problem.”
Scanlon said communities may have to start thinking out of the box and suggested having “resident firefighters” for rural towns similar to resident state troops in the state as a potential option.
“I think one of the things that you can quickly learn from looking at my report is that this crisis is really bad in rural Connecticut,” Scanlon said.
“Most towns in the state are policed by state troopers, not municipal police departments,” he said. “And I think we are not too far away from having to look at an idea, such as creating state fire departments in rural Connecticut where, 24/7, there is people paid for by the state that are there to respond whether there is a fire or someone is having a heart attack in a small town.”
Scanlon is quick to point out that issues are not only in rural areas, but the shortage is being felt everywhere.
“God, forbid we have a tragedy that has to wake us up to this, which is why I’m doing this report,” Scanlon said. “Nobody in the fire service or nobody in Connecticut wants to see a firefighter lose their lives because there weren’t enough people that showed up to a fire. We don’t ever want to see that, but the purpose of the support and the work that we’re doing is to try to prevent that from happening. And I don’t think we’re too far away from the reality.
“I want to be also really clear. The people that are still showing up to these fires, they love what they do. They’re so proud of it and we should be so proud of what they do. I’m denigrating them at all or saying that they’re no longer capable of doing this — they are — but they need more help and support. And that’s why we’re focused trying to solve these problems,” he added.
Scanlon said before anything could be done, he has to understand the landscape. A regular firehouse census should be performed, he said, and there must investment into the workforce development.
“We’ve been having some conversations with state partners and different municipalities about what are we need to do to inform people about the benefits of being firefighter,” Scanlon said. “There’s about 11,000 kids that graduate from Connecticut high schools every year but don’t go on to college. So what are we doing to communicate with those 11,000 kids to say, ‘Hey, you never thought about being a firefighter or a police officer, but there’s a great job that’s open to you that you could learn a trade very quickly and get to work.'”
Scanlon said another priority is benefits. He noted that his grandfather was a firefighter and his father was a police officer and both had really good health coverage and pensions. In the last 10 to 15 years, towns and cities have moved away from pensions, according to Scanlon, and the departments with the best pensions and benefits are getting the best applicants..
In addition to making the public aware of this issue, Scanlon said the goal is for his office is to continue to meet with the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protectionto put together some proposals before the state legislature in 2026, in hopes to improve numbers for state firehouses.
“We will try to move the needle in a positive way on some of the issues we talked about in the report,” Scanlon said.
Scanlon said he is meeting regularly with the Joint Council of Connecticut Fire Service Organizations, which includes career fire chiefs, volunteer fire chiefs, the firefighter’s union and representation from the Connecticut Fire Academy do discuss possible solutions.
Mutual aid and more
“This is an urgent moment for Connecticut,” DESPP commissioner Ronnell Higginssaid in a statement to the Courant. “We are not merely confronting a crisis with volunteer firefighters. It is a public safety crisis that we must address. For the last year, I have been traveling across Connecticut, meeting with both career and volunteer firefighters in firehouses across the state, to learn about the depth of the problem and discuss solutions.“My department is working with the Connecticut Fire Academy, the state’s technical high schools, Comptroller Scanlon and local fire departments to come up with new strategies to attract and train the next generation of firefighters. We must encourage more females and more young people in high school to consider rewarding careers in the fire service. For example, this means expanding programs in our high schools that offer a pathway to firefighting and emergency responder careers,” Higgins’ statement concluded.
Jeff Morrissette, the longtime state fire administrator for Connecticut, was a former volunteer firefighter for four decades in Wethersfield. He noted that there has been a lot of efforts over the years to permit length of service award programs. Many communities have adopted those over the years to not only boost recruitment but also retention.
“There are also other benefits and enhancements that the communities have looked to do with the force that is on hand,” Morrissette said.
He said mutual aid has been used for decades for cities and towns that are in need of extra help for certain emergencies.
“Throughout the state of Connecticut, there’s been a system of mutual aid for many, many decades. I think you’ll see that communities are becoming a lot more reliant upon automatic mutual aid. The smaller communities that have a confirmed structure fire, they’re probably dispatching immediately neighboring communities. There’s also a statewide system to manage mutual aid from not only from the top down,” Morrissette said.
PJ Norwood, director of training for the Connecticut Fire Academy, said mutual aid needs have risen in recent years.
“Departments are reaching out to the mutual aid departments more often than what they were five years ago or 10 years ago,” Norwood said. “But what I could tell you is that, yes, the National Firefighting Association has recommended standards of how many firefighters it takes to perform firefighting tasks. And when you do not meet those, you are potentially putting safety in jeopardy for the community, but also for the firefighters.”
Morrissette and Norwood both expressed excitement about the Connecticut Public Safety Pathway Summit later this year. It will be held on Nov. 20 at the Connecticut Department of Veterans Affairsin Rocky Hill.
“The event will bring together school official, school administrators, school principals throughout the state, (as well as) fire, police (and) EMS personnel to look at enrichment programs and pathway programs that can be established in local high schools, because I think that those volunteer departments that have successful programs or successful staffing, oftentimes it starts with explorer/junior cadet study programs,” Morrissette said.
“So trying to expand those and make that connection and partnership within the school systems is something that I think will be of benefit. It will be quick sessions and culminate in a Q&A panel discussion.”
Morrissette said there will be a Sept. 27 meeting at the state legislative office building, which the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection and the specific Division of Fire Services Administration will attend.
According to Morrissette, a vendor is conducting a statewide survey as the first phase of developing a statewide strategic plan “and certainly recruitment and retention is one of the top issues and concerns.” he said. The vendor will be presenting the findings of the survey that was done over 100 fire departments statewide..
“The need to really look at strategies to attract potential personnel is very important and then to retain them. Everybody’s life changes and circumstances, and you have to find ways to retain them,” Morrissette added.
Norwood noted every fire department across the state has reported a decline in recruitment in Scanlon’s report but said Higgins has put a focus on recruitment for the fire service as well as law enforcement.
“Commissioner Higgins has a community outreach officer that works directly in his office who’s out engaging in the community at all levels,” Norwood said. “He’s in colleges, he’s in high schools, trying to engage in the youth to look at careers in public safety. They’ve put together a great college intern program that has been very successful the last two years in a row, which I think is definitely going to impact positive recruitment.”
There was some good news recently for 38 Connecticut volunteer fire departments that received Annual Volunteer Fire Capacity Grant, according to a statement from the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
The funds are intended to improve firefighting capabilities by supporting training and equipment purchases. The money is provided through a federal program that supports fire departments in towns with a population of less than 10,000 people, DEEP said.
“We are grateful to administer a program that provides a critical supplement to local municipal firefighting budgets,” said DEEP commissioner Katie Dykes in a statement. “Ensuring fire preparedness is becoming increasingly important as our state experiences heightened wildfire risk resulting from more frequent extreme weather events like droughts.”
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