Rural fire and rescue departments across Iowa need more volunteers. State District 28 Representative John Thorup tells KNIA/KRLS News that busy schedules and state regulations are resulting in a decrease in the number of volunteers, and that it might be time for the legislature to consider the issue.

“From the way I see it, funding is, while it’s important, I don’t think it’s the most important thing. I think volunteerism is the most important thing. We just don’t have the number of people that want to volunteer for some of these agencies anymore, like we did years and years ago. And that’s nothing against the people individually at all, it’s just people are so busy now and it makes it hard to get people to volunteer for these things, particularly when the state government tends to put more regulations on them all the time.”

Thorup added that he would like to see more funding for volunteers, so they aren’t paying for their own gas when responding to emergencies.