Fighting fires, vehicle extrication, hazmat cleanup — the Purcell Fire Department does it all. However, it stands to lose over half its full-time firefighters as several may retire within the next five years.

At 55 years old, Fire Chief Greg Cypert is one of seven currently eligible for retirement. However, he said he intends to remain at the department for at least the next couple of years.

Applying strictly to those who are eligible for retirement through the Oklahoma Firefighters Pension and Retirement System, Oklahoma statutes dictate that no one 65 years of age or older may be employed in any capacity at any fire department of any municipality in the state.

“It’s a young man’s job,” Assistant Fire Chief Rocky Claunch said. “These 20-year-olds, they’re putting their 20, 25 in, and they’re retiring and going into another job that’s not so taxing on their bodies.”

Claunch is also eligible for retirement, but he said he may put in another 10 years. Cypert said he would already be gone if he was still working shifts.

“This job, what we’re doing, it’s more mental,” Claunch said. “It’s not as physical so it’s easier to balance than if I was on shift.”

The fire department operates on 24-hour shifts and tries to maintain four firefighters per shift.

The firefighting staff of the Purcell Fire Department currently consists of 12 volunteers and 12 full-timers, not including Cypert, Claunch and Fire Marshal Quinn Kroth. Despite this, Purcell Fire Station No. 2 off Highway 74 remains unmanned.

Though firefighter Jason Benefiel retired in March after putting in 25 years, it was not until the July 1 Purcell City Council meeting that Cypert announced the fire department was hiring Benefiel’s replacement.

“A lot of cities right now are facing cutbacks, just as we are with shortfalls on the budget, so when a guy retires, bigger cities may not replace that guy immediately to save that money,” Cypert said.

Cypert said he received about 50 job applications to fill the open position and would have hired more people to supplement his existing staff if he had the budget to do so.

Optimally, Cypert said, he would employ 18 to 21 firefighters with six or seven manning each shift.

“I have asked [the city council] every year when we present our budget,” Cypert said, “and it has been denied basically because the city doesn’t have enough money right now to do it.”

Since at least 2021, the Purcell City Council has been steadily increasing appropriations for fire department salaries. However, Cypert said, those increases have solely gone to cost-of-living raises.

Cypert said he finds it difficult to keep firefighters in Purcell as bigger cities are able to pay higher wages.

“It’s usually in their first few years that they’ll try to move on,” Claunch said. “If we can retain them for probably five to seven years, it would be too much of a [pay] reduction to go to the larger cities.”

As of 2022, roughly 38% of the state’s firefighters are employed in Oklahoma City, and they make a median wage of $69,600, according to the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission.

Since 2021, the number of employed firefighters in Oklahoma has dropped by 20% despite them being paid higher wages than ever, even when adjusting for inflation, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“We’re not unique in this,” Cypert said. “Everybody’s having the same problem.”

Cypert said it is also difficult for the department to get volunteer firefighters, who are also required to undergo hundreds of hours of training just like regular firefighters. A lot of prospective volunteers “just don’t have the time to do it,” he said. Compared to full-time firefighters, volunteers get paid per call.

Cypert said the department is not currently aware of any firefighters looking to retire within the next year.