For small towns across the United States, when danger strikes, volunteer firefighters are often a community's first line of defense for every conceivable emergency.1 Be it fire, automobile wreck, medical emergency, or any other reason to dial 911, volunteers across this nation will take a pause from their private life to help their neighbors in their hour of need. Despite this dependency, volunteer fire departments are struggling in the United States as their membership declines and theit remaining membership ages.3 Further, this decline is occurring at the same time that demand for their services, especially medical services, is dramatically increasing.4 As such, this article will examine why volunteer fire departments now serve primarily as medical providers and why their membership continues to decline.
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