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BARAGA -- As older firefighters age out of the job, departments are looking to recruit younger members.
The Baraga Fire Department does events at local schools. Last spring, members also talked to the graduating seniors at Baraga High School about joining, said Chief Jeff Mayo.
"It's hard recruiting nowadays," he said. "The younger generation just doesn't want to do a whole lot."
The stricter certification requirements might be repelling some potential applicants, Mayo said. When he started as a firefighter 21 years ago, new firefighters only needed a Fire 1 course. That's now expanded to Fire II and Hazmat courses. Counties receive $17,000 for firefighter training, which helps to cover the cost of education and books, Mayo said.
Previously, members could study on their own and challenge the course; that option no longer exists, Mayo said.
All told, they needed about 200 hours of training upon joining the department, Mayo said.
"Even for the members that have been there, the state expects you to get all these other certifications," he said. "People are working 40 hours a week, and they just don't have the time."
In Stanton Township, the department is doing "everything we can think of," said Kyllee Puuri, a firefighter and first responder.
That means doing outreach with the school system, as well as inviting the community to the hall for pancake breakfasts or barbecues.
"If they see what we're doing, then they get interested, and we can hook them into joining our cool club," Puuri said. "It shouldn't be an exclusive thing, it should be an inclusive thing. The more we involve our community, the more they can see we want them to be involved in what we're doing."
Stanton Township's been fortunate, Puuri said. The department's had four new members go through fire school in the past year, and two before that.
Bringing in new members is what helps keep the department going, Puuri said.
"You don't ever want a fire department to die off because you don't have young folks coming in," she said. "That would be awful for the community if it happens."
Baraga's back up to 19 members of what's supposed to be a 20-person roster. Mayo said the pattern has been "gain a couple, lose a couple." Even with a full roster, not everyone can make it to calls, he said.
"I have some guys who work at the prison, and it's hard for them to make it ...," he said. "Some guys work out of town, so they're not around very often."
The membership struggles have come at the same time as call volumes for Baraga have gone up in recent years. Within one week in October, the department responded to a fire at Carla's Cozy Inn and assisted at the Holiday station fire in L'Anse.
"If the younger people don't start stepping up, there's not going to be a fire department," Mayo said. "There won't be a Baraga Fire Department, L'Anse Fire Department. There won't be a Bay Ambulance. When you call 911, who's going to come?"
In a physically demanding job, having younger members takes on a higher importance.
"As folks age, it becomes more difficult for them to do everything in a safe manner," Puuri said. "If you don't feel like your body can handle it, unfortunately, it might mean you put yourself in a situation that is unsafe, and you never want that to happen."
Mayo said the recruitment issue isn't just local, but statewide.
"You try to do PR things for the little kids and hopefully they remember when they grow up," he said. "But that's a long wait."