Crime & Safety

Moorestown Fire Department Looks to Boost Volunteerism

"It's almost like a personal reward. You enjoy doing it ... I enjoy helping people in need, and that's what we do."

Administrator (and 20-year volunteer firefighter) Chris Chesner explained a firefighter's job in plain terms.

“We’re in the business to be prepared,” he said.

When you think about it, firefighters have to be prepared for a plethora of crises, from a structure fire to a cat in a tree (that still happens), from downed electrical wires to ducks in the storm sewer, and everything in between.

And for the most part, Moorestown’s firefighters are on top of their game. They have well-trained, dedicated volunteers—young and old—like Chesner and fire commissioner Sam Schlindwein. But Chesner and Schlindwein are members of a slowly dwindling breed.

“If the bell goes off right now, it could be slim pickings during the day,” said Chesner, sitting in his office at the Main Street firehouse. “It’s increasingly difficult to get volunteers … People are busier now than they were back in the day. You have a lot of dual-income families, so there’s a lot of responsibilities for both parents for the children. So you don’t have a lot of time available to run the fire calls. That’s a battle that we’re against.”

Fire District 1 has 58 volunteers, less than half of whom are active volunteer firefighters. The rest are junior volunteers and fire police, neither of which are what Chesner called “interior structural firefighters,” i.e. the guys who run into the burning building when everyone else is running out.

Chesner and Schlindwein have gotten used to rejection. It’s always some variation of the same thing: “I’d love to, but I’m just too busy.”

Chesner sympathizes. He’s a father of two, has a full-time job and a wife who also works full-time. (Granted, he works at a fire station.)

“I know when I get done work here, I’m loaded from this time to that time of my kids running from here to there, being involved with things,” he said.

Schlindwein, an excavator by trade, grew up watching the District 1 firefighters of yesteryear while working at the Mobil gas station across the street.

“I was always curious,” he said. “I’d always see the guys run into the firehouse and getting on the truck and taking off, and I always thought that was really neat. I was friends with a member. My dad was a fireman … I joined and I loved it and I’ve been here ever since.”

Asked whether he thinks people’s sense of civic duty has eroded, if that’s why volunteer firefighting has experienced a backward slide, Chesner responded, “I don’t. We go to sporting events, and I’ll talk to parents and they want to do it, they want to get involved. I’m also in Rotary, and I see it there … People do have that civic duty in mind. It’s just time. They just don’t have the time.”

Dwindling volunteerism is not a uniquely Moorestown problem. Recruitment has been an uphill battle for many volunteer fire departments across the country over the last few decades. According to the National Fire Protection Association, since 1983 (the earliest year for which it has records) the number of volunteer firefighters nationwide has dropped by more than 100,000 (though the number of departments has gone up by 2,000).

Moorestown is a bastion of free firefighting protection among a multitude of paid departments in South Jersey, including Mount Laurel, Cinnaminson, Willingboro and Cherry Hill.

“That’s what we’re trying to avoid (becoming a paid department),” Chesner said, “and we’re kind of hanging in there.”

The department has a number of programs and perks in place to make volunteering easier and more attractive, including a strong junior firefighter program, a pay-per-call policy (for those who leave work to respond to a call) and a Family Night at the firehouse. New volunteers are placed on a one-year probationary period, which allows them to dip their toe in without committing fully. They can get on the truck, head to the scene, pull hose, carry the ladder—just not go into the house.

“Try it,” said Schlindwein. “You have a whole year before you have to go to fire school, so you can kind of get the feel for it.”

It’s a time commitment, for sure, Chesner and Schlindwein acknowledged—140 hours of training, plus two to three hours of drills a week once you’re a member, plus calls—but the rewards are abundant.

“I’ve got two kids. I’ve got this (job) … and I seem to find the time to do it,” said Chesner. “I think you could too if you tried it. It’s almost like a personal reward. You enjoy doing it. You enjoy helping people. I never was big with the lights and sirens and the big red truck and that kind of stuff. I enjoy helping people in need, and that’s what we do.”

Schlindwein added, “It’s a neat network of people too. You have real estate agents. You have lawyers, we have plumbers, we have roofers … and they’re always there.”

Their appeal for more volunteers aside, Chesner doesn’t want Moorestonians to get the wrong idea: The fire department is still in good shape. If, God forbid, your house catches fire, your front yard will be filled with dozens of firefighters within minutes—in part, thanks to strong mutual aid agreements between Moorestown and surrounding communities.

“We don’t want them to think they don’t have fire protection,” said Chesner. “But we also want them to know we need more volunteers … We want to make sure the residents still have a good fire department.”

For more information about the department, visit their website. To volunteer, fill out an application online or visit the firehouse.


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