Madison, WI, July 1, 2025 – The Wisconsin Office of Rural Health has produced a statewide report revealing that fire departments across Wisconsin, especially in rural areas, are facing serious challenges that threaten their ability to respond to emergencies reliably, safely, and efficiently.
The Reliability of Wisconsin’s Fire Service report, based on contributions from 418 Fire Chiefs (representing 52% of departments statewide), highlights a growing crisis in staffing, funding, and training that could impact public safety if not addressed.
One Fire Chief warns, “We have gotten by for far too long and adapted to the staffing shortage over the years. We routinely take chances and put lives in jeopardy because that’s what we have been forced to do.” Another urges, “The Wisconsin fire service is in jeopardy. Without dramatic increases in funding and support, it is not sustainable. Departments will continue to go extinct and communities will be underserved.”
James Small, EMS Outreach Program Manager, says, “This study demonstrates that the Wisconsin Fire Service is experiencing similar challenges with reliability and sustainability as shown in our 2023 Ambulance Reliability study for Emergency Medical Services (EMS). Many agencies, particularly in rural areas, are unable to consistently provide adequate response. I see these kinds of struggles every day in my work with municipalities to develop a sustainable EMS response, and experienced them first-hand in my decade as a municipal Fire Chief previously. Solving these deficiencies will require elected leaders to prioritize support for Wisconsin’s emergency responders. Municipalities are stretched too thin to address these kinds of needs.”
Key Findings:
- 85% of rural Fire Departments operate entirely with volunteers.
- Over 80% of firefighters receive little or no monetary compensation.
- 62% of departments are worried they will be unable to adequately staff their first due apparatuses in the next year.
- 49% reported responding to building alarm calls with fewer than the required four firefighters in the past year.
- 34% lack sufficient funding to pay their projected expenses in 2024.
Recommendations from Fire Chiefs Include:
- Regionalize or consolidate Fire Departments to merge staff, budgets, and resources.
- Offer tax incentives to support firefighter recruitment and retention.
- Expand access to training, especially in rural areas.
- Allow more flexible funding mechanisms for local governments.
Our call to action:
Correcting these deficiencies is going to require elected leaders to prioritize significant investment into community fire departments. It is also likely that many communities will need to regionalize services to share costs. There is a demonstrated need for investment in the workforce through additional funding for wages and training. Any investment in community safety is also a jobs program – creating much needed jobs in small towns and rural areas still recovering from the recession.
