Firefighter Crisis Makes it to the State House; 23 Bills Introduced to Address Shortages

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Lawmakers, firefighters and EMS providers gathered outside the Pa. Capitol on Monday to urge passage of bills to address a myriad of manpower and funding issues facing the state's emergency responders. Image via Jan Murphy, Penn Live.

Helping emergency responders cope with the stress of their work is one of the actions being considered by the state legislature as it addresses a growing shortage of volunteer and career firefighters and EMS providers, writes Jan Murphy for pennlive.com.

“How would you feel if you had a fire or an accident or a life-threatening emergency and when you dialed 911, no one responded? These types of doomsday scenarios are not far-fetched,” said State Rep. Stephen Barrar (R-Delaware County).

Barrar chairs the House Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee. He is sponsoring a bill that would define post-traumatic stress injury and enable first responders suffering from it to receive mental health benefits under the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Law.

Currently, there are 23 bills in the state House aimed at addressing the well-being of emergency responders and offering incentives to recruit and maintain volunteers.

They include such proposals as offering tuition assistance, college loan forgiveness, property tax credits, cash incentives for length of service, and online training for firefighters.

The House is expected to consider those bills this week and in the coming weeks.

Read more about how Pennsylvania legislators are responding to a shortage of firefighters here.

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