Editorial: Firefighters show up when it matters most

If you want to know why it is important to support emergency services, look to Jeannette.

At 12:02 a.m. Wednesday, the first call came in about a fire with entrapment on Guy Street. Jack Mull was a neighbor who made the call after he stepped out for a cigarette and noticed the flames. Then he saw a woman standing on the roof, screaming about her children.

“The mother, she just didn’t want to give up,” said Mull, who grabbed a ladder and worked with police and firefighters.

They rescued the mother and two children.

There was no saving father Tyler King, 27, and children Kyson, 7, Kinzleigh, 6, Keagan, 3, and Korbyn, 1 month. Authorities spent hours sifting through rubble to find their remains.

There is no information yet on what caused the fire. There is no telling yet how five people lost their lives.

Perhaps that could seem like a critique of the firefighters who were unable to save them. It shouldn’t be.

According to the U.S. Fire Administration, there are about 360,000 residential building fires annually. In 2021, the last year with hard numbers listed, there were 2,840 deaths. That’s one death for every 127 fires.

It’s hard to calculate the data like a math problem. A fire can be as simple as one room in a one-story ranch house that was easily put out with no injuries. It can be as complicated as an engulfed apartment building. Building materials, location and time of day can make a huge difference.

But the federal statistics show one troubling trend. While the number of fires fell about 5% from 2012 to 2021, the number of deaths increased by 8%. The cost of fire damage increased by 11% to $8.9 billion.

The National Fire Protection Association shows the number of firefighters nationally has been declining. Despite a 2% increase in professional firefighters, the number of volunteer firefighters reached a low point in 2020.

Pennsylvania has more registered fire departments than any other state, with 1,793. New York has 1,645. Texas — six times larger than Pennsylvania by area — has 1,524. California, famously plagued by wildfires, has just 849.

But the federal government puts Pennsylvania departments at 96.7% all volunteer or mostly volunteer staffed. That is the second highest reliance on volunteers in the nation, right behind Delaware.

These departments constantly struggle to keep the organizations afloat. That is increasingly difficult with fewer recruits and often power struggles with municipalities over what monetary support they do receive outside of fish dinners and carnival fundraisers. Even companies staffed with professionals face real challenges.

What we do know about the Jeannette fire is that in the dark of night, firefighters showed up. When they couldn’t get enough water pressure, more firefighters showed up with tanker trucks. And despite the loss of life and a fire that burned one house completely to the ground, firefighter response saved lives next door.

What would have happened without them?