America’s firefighter shortage hits crisis level as emergency calls triple, putting lives at risk

America is experiencing a firefighter shortage, with staffing shortages at fire departments across the country, putting communities and firefighters at risk. The number of volunteers has declined from 900,000 to 700,000 over the last two decades, while call volumes have tripled. Career firefighting has only added 30,000 to 40,000 jobs in the same period.