New bill would give money to colleges to help train high school students in firefighting
ALLENTOWN, Pa. (KDKA) — Fire department response times in Pennsylvania could be threatened by a severe shortage of volunteer firefighters.
But now there is a new source of help and a plan for more.
"In the 1970s, we had 300,000 volunteer firefighters in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and now we have about 30,000," said Eric Gopen, a teacher and volunteer firefighter.
Gopen teaches the science of firefighting at Parkland High School near Allentown. It is not something that exists in most schools.
"It's fairly unusual," he said.
The idea is for it to become a bit less unusual, and there's a plan in Harrisburg to help accomplish that. A new bill would give $150,000 to three colleges to help train high school students whose schools do not have programs like the one at Parkland High.
State Sen. Michele Brooks said her bill could help more kids fall in love with firefighting. It passed the Senate and is scheduled for a House Committee vote next week.