Byron Fire Chief Bob Mruczek knows how difficult it is for people to volunteer their time these days.
At the Byron Fire Department’s recruiting event on Saturday afternoon, Mruczek expressed his concerns over the decline in volunteers coming into the department.
“The younger generation, it’s tough getting firefighters, it makes it tough for every volunteer fire department to keep a status quo as far as number of members,” says Mruczek.
The Byron Fire Department works with the South Byron Fire Department covering a population of about 2,500 people. The Byron Fire Department has 45 active firefighters and their EMS covers the whole district. Last year, they responded to 245 calls for service.
Because of family obligations, a lot of training, and the fact that most employers do not let you leave work to respond to a fire call anymore, the volunteer departments are lacking the manpower needed to respond to a large emergency situation during the daytime hours. Weekends are also tough to get volunteers to respond as they have family things to do.
“The way the volunteer situation is now, you rely on other departments for mutual aid to help cover your department’s call if something big happens,” says Mruczek.
He believes in the future it may come to having a County Fire Department.
“You have different locations and different firefighters in each station, it may come to paid drivers, its hard to tell, its a bad trend all over the country right now, ” says Mruczek.
Mruczek understands the difficulties volunteers face. In the 80’s, he volunteered with the Town of Batavia Fire Department and left the department to spend more time with his kids at their sporting events.
Five years ago Mruczek started volunteering again with the Byron Fire Department, he started as a Safety Officer.
He has been the Department’s Chief for about a year and a half.
“It’s a lot of work, a lot involved, a lot of responsibility, but it is still worth it.”
“It’s in my blood, it’s there and thanks to everybody here in Byron, they’ve made me one of theirs and that makes a difference, it’s family.”
The Byron Fire Department hopes to get few new members by participating in the open house each April.
“We let them come in here, check out all the equipment, see what its all about to get them involved, its not just Firefighters, its EMS, Fire Police and the Ladies Auxiliary. If you don’t want to be a firefighter there are other things you can do to help support the departments.”
The Genesee County Sheriff’s Department also participated at the Byron Fire Hall today.
Below a video K9 Demonstration with Destro and Deputy Chris Erion