Economic pressures. Increased training demands. Dangerous exposure.
These are some of the reasons retiring members of the Muskoka Lakes Fire Department have given to township officials as reasons for leaving.
However, even with these factors, according to the fire chief, interest in becoming a firefighter is trending high among residents.
Economic pressures. Increased training demands. Dangerous exposure.
These are some of the reasons retiring members of the Muskoka Lakes Fire Department have given to township officials as reasons for leaving.
However, even with these factors, according to the fire chief, interest in becoming a firefighter is trending high among residents.
Here is what you need to know
Fire Chief Ryan Murrell presented a report to the township’s general/finance committee at its Jan. 14 meeting for information purposes only. He reported the shortage of volunteer firefighters across Canada is a growing concern for rural communities.
The Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs’ latest census data is showing 3.4 per cent fewer personnel than in 2022 nationally. Muskoka Lakes is experiencing a similar effect, a 2.5 per cent decline since 2021.
As members retire from the fire service, staff have asked them for reasons (for leaving) the following is what they have indicated:
- Time and lifestyle conflicts
- Increased training demands
- Economic pressures, where volunteers do demanding, highly-skilled work for reduced rates of pay
- Growing call volumes
- Mental and physical tolls from the job’s dangerous exposure to carcinogens, coupled with emotional stressors that were not anticipated.
However, despite the reasons given for retiring from the department, Murrell told the committee interest from the community in joining is strong.
“I would note that we took on 22 new members last year, which is not a small achievement. Twenty-two new recruits to any fire services is quite a big endeavour. So we’re doing really, really well with recruitment.
“We have really good word of mouth. We’ve got a really attractive environment for people to come to … because of our training, we train at a high level, that is a form of compensation. It’s attractive to people. So we do want to see that training continue,” the chief stated.
There is currently a recruitment drive ongoing for all stations. The department has received 23 applications for 2026 as of the time of the report.
In 2025, the department responded to 672 incidents, a 17 per cent increase from the previous year’s total of 573.
“This is still under our total high number of 707 calls … and I believe that was three years ago, but it’s still quite high … most of the increase had come to us through the ice storm,” Murrell stated.
Firefighters responded to three suspicious fires in 2025; all were referred to the Ontario Fire Marshall for investigation.
There were no fire-related deaths in the community.
You can read the entire report here.