Local Country Fire Service brigades are struggling with volunteer numbers which is at times impacting the service’s ability to respond to incidents.

It is particularly an issue in regional areas where there used to be smaller townships such as Mount Schank and Blackfellows Caves whereas Tarpeena and Nangwarry can struggle to crew a truck during the day.

It has been an ongoing issue in Tarpeena for a few years however for other areas it has surfaced in the last 12 months or so as people have moved away from the district.

Region 5 (South East) Country Fire Service volunteer officer Damon Whitwell said it had been a slow and progressive decline across a lot of areas.

“We have a number of brigades right across the whole region that are looking for a few extra sets of hands to help lighten the load from Tatiara all the way to Port MacDonnell,” he said.

“A lot of people think you have to be available 24/7 given the work we do but that’s not the case.

“We are a volunteer service so we’re just after people who are able to give up any time they can to help out when the community needs it.”

Mr Whitwell said it was not all about being on the back of a fire truck.

“We have an operations brigade in Naracoorte that help with aircraft operations and the Regional Command Centre that operate during high-risk days in the fire season that are also looking for members,” he said.

“There is a lot of radio communications type of work that is necessary as well, especially around Millicent and Penola.

“Everyone has life commitments now but that’s not unique to the CFS, most volunteer organisations are facing the same problem.

“It is a hard problem especially when most of our workforce is volunteer based given the work that we do.”

Kingsley Group CFS group officer Grant Fensom said Port MacDonnell was at such critical volunteer levels that it would not be able to put fire trucks on the road this year to help other areas.

“Port MacDonnell’s a town of 700 people, and I cannot get together 10 volunteers,” he said.

“It has been a problem for Port MacDonnell for five years and it is only getting worse.

“Blackfellows Caves are down to their last 3-4 people and Donovans have only had one person for their last few callouts.

“Crews might take 2-5 trucks to one job just to hop onto one because we do not have the numbers.

“It’s not going to take many to make a difference, if we gained five members per brigade it would make a huge difference.”

Anyone interested in volunteering can email volunteernow@safecom.sa.gov.au or visit cfs.sa.gov.au/volunteer/ or call 1300 364 587.