House Media Division
Legislation to eliminate the current age limit of 45 for new volunteer firefighters was approved Tuesday by the Senate and now heads to the governor’s desk.
House Bill 2005 author Rep. Mike Sanders said the age limit was put in place to address a pension dilemma. In order for the pension system to work, new enrollees must be under a certain age. His legislation gives potential volunteers the option to join without a pension if they are above that age.
“Volunteer firefighters provide a vital service to rural communities,” said Sanders, R-Kingfisher. “The law was written to bar new volunteer firefighters above the age of 45 because the pension system could not afford them. I asked my constituents about this and they said they already had careers and pensions. They were looking to serve and didn’t need to be part of the pension system.”
Sanders said in researching the bill he learned of a nationwide and statewide decrease in the number of volunteer firefighters.
“We should not be barring potential volunteers who have the ability to save lives and property simply because of a pension issue,” Sanders said. “There is a state and national trend of dwindling volunteers. This bill will give fire departments more volunteers and could reverse that trend.”
The legislation was approved by a vote of 32-13 in the Senate and previously approved unanimously in the House of Representatives.
