If Lower Paxton Township’s Bureau of Fire didn’t have paid firefighter positions supplementing its volunteer staff, its three fire companies would have been adequately staffed just 17% of the time in the first half of 2026.
The department’s three stations also would have been out of service simultaneously for a total of 92 hours, according to Brett Graham, Lower Paxton Township Bureau of Fire Chief.
“I think that as a whole, we, as in the state of Pennsylvania and the country as a whole, have waited too long to start this transition, so we’re now in kind of crisis mode,” Graham said.
Fire departments across the countryare struggling with fewer volunteers. Since 2008, the U.S. has lost about a quarter of its volunteers as call volume rose by about 70%.
Pennsylvania’s volunteer firefighter ranks have stabilized in recent years at roughly 32,000 to 35,000, according to the Office of the State Fire Commissioner.
But departments across the state are increasingly turning to a combination of paid and volunteer firefighters to keep their stations staffed.
For Lower Paxton Township’s Colonial Park, Paxtonia and Linglestown fire companies, they first hired paid firefighters in September 2025. The force has grown to 20 career staff working alongside volunteers.
Graham said a higher cost of living has driven people away from volunteer roles.
“Most people nowadays are struggling to make ends meet, so anything they are doing, they’re going to want to be compensated for,” he said.
Lower Paxton Township relies on its 1.24-mill fire tax to fund the department, including salaries and equipment. It costs $124 per year for the median homeowner.
A combination model
Pennsylvania State Fire Commissioner Tom Cook said rural departments are especially struggling. They don’t have a strong taxpayer base for funding, and the people who would be interested in volunteering are often already involved, so there are limited recruitment opportunities.
It’s becoming more common, he said, for fire companies to have a combination of paid staff and volunteers.
Career firefighters can provide staffing during weekday daylight hours, when many volunteers are at their regular jobs. Volunteers can then provide additional personnel when departments face larger incidents.
“The combination model is the future of the Pennsylvania fire service, where you have a small cadre of paid firefighters that handle the routine incidents, and then you have a roster of volunteer firefighters that you can rely on when you have the bigger incidents,” Cook said.
The Office of the State Fire Commissioner is pushing $30 million in grants for municipalities to help with regionalization or staffing, he said, but it’s not a long-term funding solution. Fire departments will ultimately need to find ways to fund staffing through their local communities.
Citizen’s Fire Company #1, serving Palmyra Borough and North Londonderry Township in Lebanon County, still runs fully on volunteers.
But department leaders say they aren’t sure how long they can maintain that model.
President Andrew Braden said they supplement the force with six live-in volunteer firefighters, who have dorm-like rooms in the fire hall and can quickly respond to calls. If just two of them decided to leave the force, the department would struggle, Braden said.
He said there is currently no long-term plan for the department’s staffing, but leadership will bring up hiring supplemental paid positions again at the scheduled October fire commission meeting. These people could handle the administrative work, freeing up volunteers to focus on their vital work in the community.
“Being able to guarantee that a fire truck’s on the street every single day, every moment, is something that always floats in the back of my head, and we can’t make that 100% guarantee to our communities,” Braden said. “But that’s how you would solve it, would be hiring career staffing.”
One full-time firefighter would likely cost about $100,000, and Braden estimated the department would need about 12 to guarantee 24/7/365 service.
The cost would ultimately fall to local municipalities, he said. Regionalizing or merging nearby fire departments could help spread the expense across communities.
