Vox

The US volunteer fire and ambulance shortage, explained. Thanks to our sponsor, T-Mobile: http://t-mobile.com/FirstResponders In US small towns, emergency fire and ambulance first responder agencies are still mostly staffed by volunteers – a practice put in place in the 1970s and 1980s. But these volunteers are increasingly older, with fewer young people signing up than previous decades. Higher cost of living and a diminishing rural population has made volunteering less appealing than it used to be. We interviewed experts in the field of emergency response to figure out how to get those volunteers back, and the answer may be a simple one: pay them for their time. Support our work. Become a Vox Member today: http://www.vox.com/memberships Subscribe to our channel and turn on notifications (🔔) so you don't miss any videos: http://goo.gl/0bsAjO Sources and further reading: Retention and Recruitment for the Volunteer Emergency Services, US Fire Administration https://www.usfa.fema.gov/downloads/pdf/publications/retention-and-recruitment-for-volunteer-emergency-services.pdf U.S. fire department profile, NFPA https://www.nfpa.org/education-and-research/research/nfpa-research/fire-statistical-reports/us-fire-department-profile Vox.com is a news website that helps you cut through the noise and understand what's really driving the events in the headlines. Check out http://www.vox.com. Watch our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/IZONyE Follow Vox on Facebook: http://goo.gl/U2g06o Or Twitter: http://goo.gl/XFrZ5H