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You Can Use Housing prices chasing firefighters out
Membership
down
25 percent
since last year
JERRY WOLKOWITZ
staff Joseph Buckalew, an active member of the Millstone Fire Department for 51
years, points out to probationary member Jason Ackerman the placement of equipment
on a fire truck Sunday.
BY PATRICIA A. MILLER Staff Writer While
the number of homes going up in town has increased, the names on the roster of
the Millstone Township Volunteer Fire Co. have not. And longtime Chief Edward
Reed is worried about the drop in membership. The number of firefighters has dipped
25 percent just since last year, Reed said. "We’re getting by,"
he said. "But [membership is] dwindling and that’s why we are sounding
the alarm, trying to get more [volunteers]. I’m extremely concerned." The
department currently has 22 active members, compared to 28 members five years
ago. "We’ve probably had up to 40 members on the books,"
he said. "Active, probably in the high 20s, guys that always show up. And
you always have the occasional guy that comes when he can." The skyrocketing
price of housing in town has contributed to the membership drop, said Reed, who
has been chief for 16 years. "The younger guys are getting married,"
he said. "They can’t afford to live in Millstone. The price of housing
is just chasing them out of town. That’s probably our biggest culprit. "The
people that are moving into town that are buying the houses aren’t the kind
that volunteer," said Reed. "A lot of them are working a lot of hours
to pay for those homes." Reed joined the department 25 years ago, when
Millstone was a different town. "We had very few developments at that
time," he said. "We had a mix of members who lived in town. Some worked
shifts. We had a good mix of blue-collar people. Now it’s a lot more white-collar
than it ever was. It’s growing by leaps and bounds." And the
homes in those developments have gotten larger over the years, he said. The
average house size in Millstone used to range from 1,500-2,000 square feet, the
chief said. "Now it’s 3,000 [square feet] and up," Reed
said. "The houses are bigger. There is more to burn. They are a lot more
complicated because they are laid out differently. It takes more manpower to control." Last
year, the fire department had 276 calls, which included 15 structural fires, he
said. Reed plans to continue with recruitment efforts. "We’ve
posted signs at the firehouse and on the Web site," he said. The fire
company is also putting together a committee to start a junior firefighters division,
said Reed. Most of the firefighters in the company are in their late 30s
or early 40s, he said. "We’re trying to get them a little younger,"
he said. Anyone interested in joining the department must be at least 18
years old and a resident of the state, Reed said. "I’ve got a
number of members who live outside the township because of the cost of housing,"
he said. "We don’t restrict it to Millstone." To be active
members, volunteers must go through 124 hours of training at the Monmouth County
Fire Co. Most of the training is conducted on weekends, Reed said. "It’s
the initial training by the state before we even let them ride," he said.
"It’s not like the old days, where you joined and they gave you a coat
and said, ‘Here, get on.’ "
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