SALENA ZITO: When duty calls, volunteers are ready — for now.

Of the 2,462 fire companies serving the more than 2,500 municipalities in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, over 90% of them are staffed by volunteers who fulfill a multitude of duties — not just when there’s a fire or a chemical spill, but also just to keep the equipment functional and their facility in working order.

Mike Mikus, 52, has been volunteering here for over 12 years. He said there are two challenges they face: “Getting people to step up and volunteer to serve and raising the monies needed so that our equipment is capable of handling whatever disaster we are called to.”

Mr. Mikus said he joined when he turned 40 and had come to a point in his life where he believed it was time to give back. “I really felt a calling. You always see stories that fire departments are short-staffed, and I wanted to serve my community,” he said. . . .

The original membership here consisted of 170 men and a ladies’ auxiliary, with 200 members — back then women weren’t “allowed” to be firemen, but their service was critical in coordinating events to support the company. Today, there are 28 active members serving the same area, which has grown robustly in population in the past two decades.

This decline in staffing is happening all across Pennsylvania. According to data maintained by the Pennsylvania Fire and Emergency Services Institute, the number of active volunteer firefighters has dropped from 300,000 in the mid-1970s to just under 38,000 in 2018.

The Long March continues.