Age is becoming an issue for a number of Fire Departments, David Hazelton told the Brocton board. P-J file photo

BROCTON — Former village mayor and emergency medical technician responder David Hazelton brought a relatively pressing problem to the board’s attention: The current ages and contributions of the members of the Brocton Fire Department.

Hazelton became curious as to the number of firefighters currently listed on the staff for the Brocton Fire Department, and decided to do some research into it. Hazelton found that there were 33 firefighters on the list, but the actual number that respond to calls is actually only 24. Of those 24 people, four more only responded to less than 10 calls over the last 15 months, dropping the real number of active members to 20. On top of the fire department not having a lot of manpower, the ages of the people that do respond are more troubling.

“My concern is the average age of those 24 people is 52 years and seven months,” Hazelton said. “The average age of the EMTs, which is basically only three of us, is 51.6.”

Hazelton, between the Brocton and Portland Volunteer Fire Departments, has served over 45 years, serving as an EMT for over 35. The experience of the Brocton Volunteer Fire Department is valuable, but Hazleton’s main concern is in the age group of the Department.

“We have an aging fire department and you guys are going to be forced with a major issue five years from now,” Hazleton said. “If we’re 52 now, in five years we’re going to be 57 unless we get a whole bunch of new people. Fighting fires and making EMS calls is not an old person’s job.”

Hazelton said that over the last 15 months, there have been 2,770 opportunities for volunteers to respond. Of those, roughly two-thirds were responded to by people over the age of 60. Hazleton referenced a fire on Ellicott Road in Portland on April 9, where 12 volunteers responded, but a large portion of those volunteers were practically not there.

“Of those 12 people, four were bystanders because we’re over 70,” Hazelton said. “Without the other six or seven other departments that showed up, we’d still be out there. We had four pieces of equipment, so of the 12, four were bystanders, four were on equipment, which left four people actually fighting the fire.”

Hazelton suggested to the Brocton Village Board that they begin trying to make arrangements with the Portland Fire Department, though he guesses that the Portland Fire Department is facing similar problems. In fact, a lot of places in Chautauqua County will be facing this same issue, meaning that Brocton will not be the only ones facing this issue in a few years. Hazleton thinks that long range, Chautauqua County government will have to devise a countywide plan to solve this problem, but the answer currently doesn’t exist.

Though the department still responds to calls quickly and efficiently, Hazelton said that a plan needs to be put in place for the near future. Brocton Mayor Art Miller said that the Brocton Village Board will look into the matter and begin devising a plan for the future.