At home in the Eagan firehouse

Volunteer firefighters have been known to joke that their fire hall is a second home. But for 20-year-old Mike Vruno of Eagan, it is his home. He lives in Eagan's main fire station, one of three firefighters participating in an experiment designed to reduce turnover on the roster.

In December 2007, Vruno moved out of his parents' home into his new digs, his bedroom in converted ambulance-crew quarters on Pilot Knob Road. He lives there rent-free under the city's fledgling program to recruit and retain firefighters.

Vruno, a college student majoring in fire science, said other cities should consider such a program. It benefits both him and the city, including with faster responses to 911 calls.

"It's just nice to be out of home and be able to make every front-line truck while I'm here," he said.

Other young firefighters have found it tough to locate affordable housing and have moved away, taking with them the hefty investment the city makes in each new firefighter. That trend comes during a mounting shortage of volunteer firefighters statewide. One of every four volunteer firefighters now leaves in the first year, according to the Minnesota State Volunteer Firefighters Association.

But Eagan Fire Chief Michael Scott said the experiment with free housing has been so successful that he hopes to triple the size of the program in the coming months and eventually have nine firefighters living under such an arrangement.

"It's a good recruitment tool but it's also a great retention tool," Scott said. "We're retaining firefighters who might have otherwise left the community."

Scott said he hopes to add space for six more firefighters if the City Council builds a replacement fire station on the city's north side. This week, city officials are in final negotiations to buy property in north Eagan, where the volume of calls is greatest, the response times the longest, and recruits are needed most.

Firefighters in the current program live on the city's south side. In exchange for free rent, they answer more emergency calls than others, and they've gotten there more quickly, Scott said. They've also helped with maintenance and fire prevention efforts.

Eagan now has 105 firefighters, well short of its authorized strength of 120, Scott said. He hopes the experiment will boost retention. The biggest segment leaving Eagan, Scott said, are firefighters with less than five years' experience.

Scott hired 15 new recruits in the past five years, and four left early on. The other 11 made it through recruitment classes, learning first-responder skills and fire-fighting, he said.

Scott said it costs $3,600 to $5,000 to immunize, train and outfit a firefighter in the first year or two. The psychological test alone costs $500, he said.

And new firefighters are needed to replace those who are leaving. In recent months, most communities lost seasoned firefighters to the economic downturn in relief association funds. Many families say that with both parents now working, they don't have time, and can't afford to pay for child care while volunteering.

"This has left communities in dire straits with the loss of this valuable resource, the volunteer firefighter," the state volunteer firefighters association says.

The group said on average, after the second year, the turnover rate hits 50 percent.

In March, the Rosemount-based volunteer firefighter association received a $491,000 federal grant to study how the state can better recruit and retain firefighters. The group hopes to increase recruitment by 20 percent in the next three years, Secretary David Ganfield said.

Ganfield said not all cities have the capability to do what Eagan's doing, but for other cities, the approach is a model.

"That's the job of the fire chief -- to make sure that they've got the firefighters to protect the community," Ganfield said. "It's a good effort, and I hope it works."

In late 2007, when Scott began the program, he looked at similar efforts in Mankato and Fergus Falls, but there was nothing like it in the metro area. The first tenants have been college students Vruno, Jon Kemp, 19, and Tyler Moyna, 21, who this month moved out to get married. Fire Lt. Bill Knoll, 35, is moving in soon.

"Bill will be the dorm mom," Scott said.

Vruno, who is in finishing his second year studying fire science at Hennepin Technical College, gets paid the standard rate of $13 per fire call.

He said he will live in the dorm another year while he pursues paramedic certification. After that, Vruno said, he intends to work as a paramedic in Eagan, his hometown.

Joy Powell • 952-882-9017