JACKSON – A long time fire company ceased to exist after January 1 but its legacy will live on. It was the victim of a nationwide trend of declining volunteers.
Fire District No. 2 Fire Official/Fire District Administrator Scott Rauch spoke with The Jackson Times about the unfortunate demise of the Whitesville Volunteer Fire Company that had quite a bit of history in the township. The Whitesville Firehouse is located at 81 South Hope Chapel Road and will continue to be staffed by District 2 career firefighters.
Rauch said “I hate using the word disbanding. It is an ugly word. They have been around since 1931. They went to the Hindenburg fire. We have a copy of a letter from the base commander at the time thanking them for their response. Nationwide, volunteer fire companies are losing members and not able to get new members. It is a nationwide problem and it finally caught up to Jackson.”
According to statistics, volunteer firefighters numbered nearly 898,000 in 1984 but by 2020 that number dropped to around 677,000 and continued to drop.
He noted that the Whitesville Fire Company saw a 46% increase in calls for service in the last decade. “Our career staff had previously been working 12-hour daytime shifts Monday thru Friday with four members per crew. Now that we had to move them to 24 hour shifts our crew size dropped to three.”
“You have two income families and some have multiple jobs. Kids are much more active in all kinds of things these days and it takes the time away. The hours you need to commit just to become a firefighter; all these things have hurt us. It is a continuous training and then if you want to grow in the department and grow in the ranks there is much more outside schooling you have to go to, plus the training you have to do internally,” he added.
Rauch also noted the time commitment had been impacted by “all these family dynamics. It is not like it was when your life revolved around the firehouse and the firehouse revolved around the town’s existence. Families are not staying in the same place anymore. The call volume has gone up. The call volume for the Whitesville Fire Company alone has gone up 46% from what it was in 2016. It has gone up 37% from what it was in 2020.”
“The calls for service have become more and more. When the dispatchers don’t know who to call, they call the fire department. The numbers of volunteers fluctuate year to year. My experience has been for every five people who sign up to do the job you wind up keeping one for various reasons. It is taking too much time away from other things they have to do and they discover they can’t provide the time that is required,” he noted.
Rauch said “Whitesville has never been a big fire company because they are the smallest response area in the township but they have had 25-30 people at any given time. The chief, officers and the company just couldn’t get the response to meet their obligation. They came forward and asked for help and decades ago they started adding career firefighters during the week day and eventually District 1 where Whitesville was the fire company.”
“They hired career staff; they merged with District 2 a little over 10 years ago and they increased their career staff out of the Whitesville Station along with what they have at their (Cassville) Miller Avenue station and worked week days from 6 a.m. to 4 and 5 p.m.,” Rauch added. “Those were the days when the volunteers were at work and they still responded 24 hours a day, but after the work hours their staff was here because in the old days you worked in town.”
District 2 did a shared service with District 3 and took turns with career staff covering weekends for 12 hours a day “to help cover the lack of volunteer response and finally the volunteers just came and said we can’t do it anymore and that is why we put the career staff to work 24 hours a day at the Whitesville station,” Rauch added.
Rauch began his fire service at the age of 18 at a firehouse in north Jersey. He joined the Whitesville Fire Company in 1999. “Some of the remaining members are going to the other volunteer companies in town. A couple of guys went to the Cassville Fire Company. Some who lived closer to Jackson Fire Company No. 1 went there. The others are just moving on.”
“We need more career staff to better fiscally operate,” Rauch added. “I had four guys on a truck now, I’m down to three guys on a truck. To do things correctly and meet guidelines and standards, more people on the truck are a better fit. It makes a world of difference.”
As to the fire company’s equipment including fire trucks, Rauch said, “We are currently trying to sell the ladder truck that operates out of Whitesville to make some money to put back into our budget.”
“It is not something that makes sense to operate daily that the career staff would use. It’s not something you want to do but it is something we need to do,” he added.
Upcoming Fire District Elections
Rauch also noted that fire district elections were coming up next month. The district is calling on residents to participate in the upcoming Fire Budget referendum on February 21.“The vote comes at a critical time as the district faces a “perfect storm” of rapid population growth, a 13% increase in emergency calls, and a nationwide shortage of volunteer firefighters.”
Last year, Fire District #2 responded to 1,575 calls for service, a significant jump from the previous year. The district has achieved several historic milestones in 2025:
- 24/7/365 Coverage: On July 13th, the District moved to full-time career firefighter coverage – the first 24-hour shifts in township history.
- Enhanced EMS Response: As of December 1, EMS First Responder coverage was extended to 24 hours a day to provide life-saving care faster.
- Modernized Operations: The district is integrated with Fire District No. 3 via the First Due software system to streamline emergency response, maintenance, and reporting.
The fire district official added that this year’s budget “is essential to maintaining these 24/7 operations and funding Jackson Fire District #2.Approval of the budget ensures that residents continue to receive rapid response times and professional fire and medical protection as local demand increases.”
Rauch noted, “our firefighters are responding to more calls than ever before. This budget allows us to continue providing the 24-hour protection our residents deserve. We are asking the community to help us serve them at the highest possible level.”
Residents have two ways to make their voices heard. In-person voting is from 2 to 10 p.m. on February 21 at Jackson Fire Station #56, 785 Miller Road. They can also vote by mail. Ballots must be requested by February 14 and you can visit oceancountyclerk.com to apply. The submission deadline for mail-in ballots must be postmarked by February 21 and received by February 27.
Rauch can be reached at 732-363-2595 or via email at srauch@jacksonfiredistrict2.org. To learn more details about the proposed budget and fire district election visit jacksonfiredistrict2.org
