Fire departments scrambling to recruit new local volunteers

HAYDEN I (AP) With several pails of diesel fuel at his side, veteran Hayden firefighter Wayne DeLuca was preparing to show this year’s class of recruits how to fight fire.
Inside the training facility just south of Hayden, DeLuca poured fuel on a small fire and the smoke above his head ignited, catching his helmet’s badge on fire.
“That happens sometimes,” he said.
As the West Routt Fire Protection District seeks more funding from taxpayers,…