Suppressing volunteer firefighting

Regulation, Winter, 2004 by Marshall T. Stocker

CONCLUSION Today, firefighters face the same likelihood of being killed by a structure fire as they did more than two decades ago. Meanwhile, OSHA has saddled departments with onerous safety, record-keeping, training, and financial requirements that have contributed to a decline in volunteers. And, clearly, a smaller number of firefighters does not enhance safety when battling a blaze.

To reduce firefighter deaths, each fire department should be freed of the regulatory burden of federal oversight and empowered to mitigate its own locally identified risks. Every fire department serves a community with different safety hazards and emergencies. Only local authorities are poised to identify and reduce the risks faced by their firefighters.

OSHA should return to its original directive of establishing voluntary standards--especially for volunteer fire departments. Doing so will allow departments to focus on highest-priority risks instead of OSHA's many, homogenous standards. Local departments will be better able to recruit new firefighters. The replacement of federally mandated standards with department-specific safety and training protocols will ease the time commitment required to volunteer as a firefighter and reduce firefighter fatality rates.

Marshall L. Stocker is a volunteer firefighter, a national Pro Board-certified firefighter and fire officer, and holds the rank of assistant fire chief. He also holds a B.S. and M.B.A. from Cornell University and is employed as all investment manager. Stocker can be contacted by e-mail at mstocker@sandersonstocker.com.