News Photo by Julie Riddle Alpena Township firefighters roll a hose after an emergency call outside the North Side Station on Wednesday. Rural fire departments in northern Michigan will get help finding new recruits from a new federal grant.

ALPENA — A good firefighter is hard to find.

That’s why the Federal Emergency Management Agency awarded more than a quarter-million dollars to the Northern Michigan Fire Chiefs Association to help recruit and retain people to fight fires in rural northern Michigan.

The money will be available to local fire departments as they develop plans that fit the needs of their particular community, according to Bill Forbush, chief at the Alpena Fire Department.

“I think it’s the best job in the world,” Forbush said. “You get to run around town helping people. It doesn’t get better than that.”

Despite the upsides of the job, recruitment of new firefighters is a challenge nationwide. Today’s busy lifestyles inhibits volunteerism, making it hard to find time for the 250 hours of training that’s required to become a volunteer firefighter, Forbush said.

“Back in the day, when everybody had a volunteer fire department, we were back with one-income homes, and mom stayed home and the kids were there and dad came home every night,” Forbush said. “It’s not like that, now. Everybody’s working, all the time.”

As fire safety regulations bring the number of structure fires down, the need for ongoing training rises, fewer fires meaning fewer opportunities to learn on the job. Those training hours, and the rigorous — and costly — education requirements for today’s firefighter keep people from stepping up.

The recruitment problem isn’t just among volunteer departments. At the Alpena Fire Department, three full-time positions remain open because there’s nobody willing to fill them.

Forbush, who serves as president of both the Northern Michigan Fire Chiefs Association and the Michigan Rural EMS Network, said the grant from FEMA will be used to figure out how big the problem of firefighter retention truly is and to find ways to improve the situation.

Some possible changes to help draw interest in the profession include revisions to the educational requirements, cutting costs, and keeping classes local while maintaining high standards.

Creative approaches to training may also help departments reach potential volunteers within their busy lives. For the first time, medical first responder training will be offered online through the Alpena Fire Department beginning in April, a response to the coronavirus epidemic that is one of the good results of a bad situation, the fire chief said.

The $350,000 grant will also provide a full-time recruitment and retention coordinator who will work one-on-one with departments to help them craft a plan to make sure they are fully staffed and ready to protect their communities.

Julie Riddle can be reached at 989-358-5693, jriddle@thealpenanews.com or on Twitter @jriddleX.