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Mass Innovations, From The Beacon, March 2026
Swansea’s volunteer firefighters perform a range of duties for the town, from emergency response to participation in community events. The town recently established a new program to reward volunteers at the end of their service. (Photo courtesy town of Swansea)
In an effort to retain volunteer firefighters and attract new recruits, a new Swansea program will offer retirement payments to former volunteers, an initiative local officials said is the first of its kind in Massachusetts.
In October, Swansea launched its Volunteer Firefighter Length of Service Award Program, which allows its volunteer firefighters to accrue credits toward eventual retirement payments. The town, which boasts the state’s largest volunteer fire department, hopes that the retirement payments will encourage more volunteers to sign up for service and stay longer with the department once they do join.
Town officials say the new incentive gives Swansea a way to honor the important service of its firefighters. They also see the program as addressing a critical need: The number of volunteers has dropped steadily over the years, from about 125 in 1989 to 76 now, while the number of emergency calls continues to rise. The health of the volunteer service helps stave off a more costly alternative, said Town Administrator Mallory Aronstein.
“If people stopped showing up, we would be literally without a fire service,” Aronstein said. “If we had to suddenly replace these volunteers with a professional fire department, it would most certainly mean a [Proposition 2½] override and stressed finances for the rest of the town.
“The fact that this program exists for retention and recruitment efforts and to keep the volunteer system going is a major tool for us to encourage our volunteer system to continue for many years, staving off that financial concern,” she said.
Swansea previously had some success with another program giving volunteers up to $2,500 per year in local property tax credits, said Fire Chief Eric Hajder. But the tax credit ended when volunteers retired, essentially creating a $2,500 tax increase. Based on the firefighters’ feedback, Hajder started researching length-of-service award programs that volunteer departments in other states use to provide benefits.
“This was something that the members came up with,” Hajder said. “They didn’t know what it was going to look like, but they knew that we needed to do something kind of long term to take care of the members.”
In 2020, Hajder wrote a length-of-service award program proposal for the Board of Selectmen. After several years of Town Meeting appropriations to build up a fund, and a home rule petition passed in 2024 to pave the way for the program, the selectmen voted to create the length-of-service program trust last October.
To qualify for benefits, firefighters must meet physical fitness requirements and respond to at least 45 calls per year, which represents less than 10% of the nearly 600 calls the town expects to get this year, Hajder said. They must also complete 36 hours of department-approved training annually.
Upon completing 10 years of service, a firefighter becomes eligible for monthly payments for life after retiring and reaching age 65. The monthly payments range from $50 a month for a decade of service to $800 a month for 40 years.
The program will also provide assistance to volunteers who become disabled as a result of their service, and for families of firefighters who have lost their lives in the line of duty, Hajder said.
Swansea now has more than $830,000 in the fund, and conducts actuarial assessments to ensure sufficient yearly contributions. Though the town contributed larger amounts initially to build up the fund, the average annual contribution is now down to about $75,000, Hajder said. Now that the trust is established, Swansea is vetting outside firms to manage the investments.
Swansea’s volunteer firefighters have an average of about 15 to 20 years of service, Hajder said. The goal is to help more volunteers reach at least 20 years, and maybe even closer to the tenure of people like Fran Kelly, who will celebrate his 45th anniversary in May. Hajder said that Kelly (whose son Michael has more than two decades of service), exemplifies the service and sacrifice that so many make to the town.
For more information about Swansea’s program, contact Fire Chief Eric Hajder at [email protected].