Today, few people who live in small towns work there. James Heim is with the Minnesota State Fire Chiefs Association. The rules and requirements today of the firefighter are such that training is a large issue. There are roughly 20,000 firefighters in Minnesota. About 18,000 of those are volunteers.
Many departments expect a large number to retire within the next few years.
Heim says that may mean fewer volunteer fire departments and longer waits for service. What you're going to be looking at is a neighboring city coming in to provide fire protection where you might have a response time of twenty minutes to a half hour, which is really getting out there pretty well. You're going to keep the fire from getting into the trees and that's about the best you'll do with that sort of response time. Some fire departments have already been forced to close their doors and merge with departments in neighboring cities. Woody Walters is the Minnesota Director of the National Volunteer Fire Council.