“I’ve been involved in the fire services since 2003 and over that time period from 2004, 2005 up until now we have slowly seen it decrease. Everyone is busy and it seems like the younger generation isn’t interested in whatever reason,” says Boonville Fire Department Chief Steven Byers.

This is why Republican Representative Randy Frye introduced House Bill 1064. It has already passed through the House, but if it does become law, volunteer firefighters across the state could get free tuition to attend Ivy Tech. They are hoping incentives like that will catch the attention of millennials.

“It gives them an opportunity to get an education and get some of that covered where they can work towards a degree and get the help that they need financially. So it’s a huge incentive for the volunteer fire departments,” says Chief Byers.

Fire departments statewide are not the only ones seeing a decline in interest. Evansville Police say 25 years ago, they used to get 1,100 to 1,200 applications, but now they get about 200 on average.

“Law enforcement as a profession has really been under the microscope for the last few years. For officers that come to work every day and do a good job and are professional, to have every decision second-guessed and micromanaged and to face unwarranted criticism in their community, it’s not appealing for a young person to come in and put up with things like that,” says Evansville Police Sergeant Jason Cullum.

This decline is a trend seen all over the country and officials say a lot of it has to do with competitive wages.

“There are so many private sector jobs that pay well that have good pension plans so that there are things that are seen as job security in the government sector whether it be firefighters or police officers that people felt like they were getting those same job securities in the private sector,” says Sgt. Jason Cullum.