00:03A crushed car, a trapped driver, minutes to get inside.
00:07This training is designed to save a life.
00:12First and foremost, our role is to prepare the next generation of first responders.
00:17Whether that's as a volunteer or fighting fires as a career.
00:21I think the idea of being able to help your own community in times of crisis is a noble calling.
00:27Boomer Strawn leads the fire science technology program at Metropolitan Community College.
00:32We get them completely prepared to handle this emergency situation.
00:37But he comes from the front lines and knows what it feels like when the tone drops and your community needs you.
00:43You get to fix an immediate problem and you may not know what the outcome is by the time you leave,
00:48but generally you left them better than you found them.
00:51From Omaha to Lincoln and small towns in between, students come here to train.
00:56MCC holds Nebraska's only fire science program and Boomer says the demand is growing.
01:03In 2014, we had roughly 98 students. In 2024, we had roughly 740 students.
01:12Most students want a full-time fire career. Only about 20% trained to volunteer in their hometown.
01:18I don't think it's just a paid versus volunteer issue. I think, in general, we need first responders within our four counties as well as all 93 counties in the state of Nebraska.
01:28And even with growth in the fire science program, the pipeline is not keeping up.
01:33Across Nebraska, both volunteer and paid departments say they need more people suiting up.
01:38According to the National Fire Protection Association, the U.S. had about 1,041,200 firefighters in 2020, the lowest total since 1991.
01:48Most of that drop came from volunteers stepping away. 65% of firefighters in America are volunteers.
01:55Everybody is needing volunteers. All departments in this area, I know, are getting busier and busier every year.
02:01In Nebraska, there are more than 15,000 unpaid firefighters, compared to just under 1,500 paid.
02:08And out of 478 departments, only six are fully paid. 449 are all volunteer.
02:15We have one member that's made almost 680 calls this year.
02:18Roger Peake has seen this job from both sides of an emergency call.
02:22He spent 27 years as a 911 dispatcher.
02:25Now he is the second assistant chief at the Irvington Volunteer Fire Department just northwest of Omaha.
02:31We do everything, fire rescue, anything from assisting a party up that's not injured, to a CPR in progress, to a car accident, to a house fire.
02:40Irvington may have 38 volunteers on paper, but only about 16 can consistently show up when the tone drops.
02:48Peake says new volunteers come in, but many do not last.
02:51Between long hours, constant calls, and burnout, they are losing people faster than they can keep them.
02:57Our call load has gone up substantially over the time, so we would like to be up in that 45, 50-member.
03:06Training is not optional. Every volunteer has to be certified in both fire and EMS with continuing education each year.
03:13And all of that happens outside their daily lives.
03:16The general population doesn't understand the time and the energy it takes to be on this side,
03:22because most of us, you know, we all have families, we all have jobs outside of this,
03:25and then we still have to come down here and provide a service plus training, continuing education.
03:31Irvington is not just covering their own zip code.
03:35They are often the extra crew racing into neighboring communities when another department runs out of hands.
03:41We may not get paid for that, but we're still helping people.
03:45Paid or volunteer, they do this for the people on the other side of the smoke.
03:50For Straight Arrow News, I'm Kaylee Carey. Read more stories right now on SAN.com or on the Straight Arrow News mobile app.
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