The Gibraltar Fire Department currently has 16 members on its roster, a number Chief Andy Bertges would like to see doubled in the near future. The low number is nothing new for volunteer fire departments across the country, which has been seeing a decrease in volunteer firefighters since 1986 according to the National Fire Protection Association. Bertges says like many volunteer organizations struggling to grow its membership, people are becoming busier and assume when they see a fire truck that staffing is okay. 

 

Bertges hopes to introduce a junior program in April designed to get younger people involved with the fire department and maybe even attract their parents to join as well.