The state Senate has approved legislation (Senate Bill 90) that aims to boost the number of volunteer firefighters by changing the way volunteer firefighters are certified.

Current firefighter applicants must complete four training modules totaling 188 hours. They then must pass a cumulative test covering all four modules. The legislation would reform the certification process by enabling applicants to be tested following each of the four modules.

“If we want the same highly trained and qualified volunteer firefighters and we want more of them in our communities, our bill is a way to accomplish that,” said Republican Senator Doug Mastriano. “If Pennsylvania is going to reverse the trend of declining numbers of volunteer firefighters, we need to reform the certification process. Many communities need more volunteer firefighters, and this is a way to make that possible.”

Such a tweak would make it easier to make it through the certification process, so it’s likely worth pursuing. But we shouldn’t be under any false pretenses that taking a test at the end of each of the four training modules rather than one test at the end of the entire course will all of the sudden reverse a decades-long slide in the number of volunteer firefighters.

Realistically, state governments across the country that rely on volunteer firefighters and EMTs have pursued tweaks that aim to make it 1% easier to become a volunteer firefighter. Such “1%” fixes are easy, they don’t ruffle any feathers and, probably most important, don’t require any spending at the state or local levels.

That’s the type of policy everyone can get behind. It’s also the type of policy that accomplishes next to nothing.

Pennsylvania had more than 300,000 volunteer firefighters in the 1970s. That number is now roughly 30,000. We’ve approved dozens of small policies aimed at making it easier or providing a small financial benefit, yet the number of volunteers continues to decrease.

Changing the testing policy doesn’t make the certification process less costly. It doesn’t make the certification process less time-consuming. It doesn’t make the certification process less complicated. It doesn’t increase the pool of possible volunteer firefighters because that pool is decreasing as our population decreases. And this bill doesn’t deal with the fact that the bulk of the calls volunteer fire departments are tasked with responding to are EMS calls, not burning houses.

If this bill makes it through the state House, it will help a little bit – a very little bit. It certainly doesn’t mean we’re done dealing with the crisis in our volunteer fire departments.