Fewer people are volunteering at fire stations. It's a problem not just locally but nationwide.
This week, Virginia's Fire Chiefs Association reported the lack of volunteers as the number one issue facing departments today.
Here in Roanoke County, the fire department has also seen the number of volunteers decline over the years. That means hiring more paid full time firefighters.
Right now the county has 150 career firefighters and 230 volunteers. The biggest problem for would-be volunteers is time.
"You get fire alarms or a fire in the middle of the night at 1 or 2 o'clock in the morning and that's very demanding and then the folks have to get up and go to work at 5 or 6 o'clock in the morning," says Chief Rick Burch, "It's just very, very hard on the people's time."
Also, volunteers must go through training which is time consuming.
"We have a tremendous turnover within the first 3 years and we think that comes from again back to time," says Chief Burch, "People get in, they're very dedicated but then they realize how much time it takes."
Next year, Virginia's Fire Chiefs Association plans to do a study on recruiting and retaining volunteer firefighters. It's also been awarded a grant to help fire departments advertise and attract new volunteers.
