From the New York Times,”The Dissappearing Volunteer Fire Fighter” By Andrew Brown and Ian Urbina, published August 16, 2014
In most places in America, when a fire breaks out, a volunteer shows up to put it out.
But the ranks of volunteers are dwindling. What was once an iconic part of American life is losing its allure, in part because the work — some would say the calling — is a lot less fun than it used to be.
There are still more than twice as many volunteers as career firefighters. But the number of volunteers has dropped by around 11 percent since the mid-1980s, while the number of career firefighters has grown more than 50 percent… Continue Reading at nytimes.com →
