COLONA, Ill. — Over the last few years, Colona Fire Chief John Swan has seen a decrease in his staff at the fire department. He said it's been a struggle to keep volunteers around.
"We have the capacity to have 32 firefighters and EMTs on our staff. Currently we have 17," Swan said. "This has been a issue for many years, and it's at the point now that we're at our breaking point."
Having a lack of volunteers has caused their emergency medical service system to suffer, as Swan said the department has missed calls, and there's a longer response time during emergencies.
"When people call, often they may not get an ambulance," Swan said. "We don't want that to be the case. The longer someone has to wait for an ambulance, that could be life or death."
According to Swan, 80% of calls received by the Colona Fire Department are EMS related, with the number only rising. He added many departments are 'getting out of the ambulance service' and contracting private entities or hospital based units, which carry high costs. As a result, departments have been unable to pay their volunteers.
"The people in our community need to be aware that the EMS system is a house of cards. It's falling on itself, and we need to stop the bleed," Swan said.
The issue isn't just exclusive to Colona, as several Illinois Fire Departments are seeing the same issue. Robert Clark, a volunteer at Rapids City, said their day shift calls can have two people, but often that still isn't enough for the community.
"It's getting harder and harder to recruit people," Clark said. "People are working out of town and they're not able to be around town during the day, even in the evening. It just makes it hard."
Swan said there's no immediate solution to the issue, but they are working with several state representatives to bring awareness to it.
"We're running almost 1,000 calls a year here in Colona," Swan said. "Calls are going up and volunteers aren't just there. We need to find a solution to this to continue providing this service to our communities."
The Colona Fire Department is currently looking for more volunteers. If you are interested in joining their team, call 309-314-0939.
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