Paul Crandall joined the Alna Fire Department this spring because he likes to help people. The night of June 17, the former forestry firefighter was working with longtime department members washing the station floor; they were getting the station ready for an open house that the department wants to have after the new fire truck arrives, members said.

Across Route 218 at the town office earlier that night, Alna town officials and resident Fred Bowers discussed how to add to the department’s roster. Bowers said he thinks the recruitment committee he’s chairing should pursue answers to a number of questions.

Those answers will help with planning advertising or any other strategies, Bowers said. “I want to have clear marching orders from the selectmen on what you’d like to have as the scope of the work,” Bowers told the board. “I think it’s a bigger task (than advertising).”

“I think you’re exactly on the money,” Third Selectman Doug Baston said. “Think outside the box ... I don’t think there’s going to be a silver bullet.”

The committee resulted from the fire department asking selectmen for help recruiting firefighters. Four have left this year, and finding more has been a struggle, the department’s president Kathy Pendleton has said.

Bowers suggested the committee find out what motivates people to join fire departments; why they leave them; the average age of a firefighter in other small towns; and the appropriate age for firefighting.

Regarding motivation, he said: “I want to answer the question, ‘Is it money?’ My intuitive feeling is, it probably isn’t money.”

People see joining the department as a huge time commitment, Town Clerk Amy Warner said. They don’t realize that the level of commitment can vary depending on the work the person trains for, she said.

Baston suggested Bowers divide research tasks up among committee members.