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The Demise of the volunteer fire service
I know i'm gonna open a can of worms (or a can of whoop ass) on myself but i wish to pose a question and i hope to avoid the usual responses and get some direction on a topic that is incendary. Without saying exactly where its going on because i see it happening everywhere, i would like to hear opinions as to why the volunteer fire service is dying or being put out of service in some areas of the US. Where i'm at in florida (some) volunteer departments are being forced out of existance for legitimate and non legitimate reasons and i wonder how volunteer departments in this situation are handeling it?
As a former volunteer association president i am well aware of the reasons people join but i when i got a resignation i asked for a sitdown to find out why they were leaving and the majority revolved around their work responsibilities (due to downsizing and having more work to do) and the member not having enough time with their family.
In one case when a member used "wanting more family time" i looked at their individual responses vs. the type and amount of calls he actually went on (7 years worth) and saw that this particular person had a tendancy to only respond to the "good calls" and not the BS ones. I called him on it and discovered that the truth was that he was having a personality conflict with some members and decided that quitting was easier. I asked why didnt you just try to work it out and discovered that the conflict was that since we were a combination department he felt that there was a paid vs. volunteer atmosphere and the volunteers were being excluded or viewed as second class members
The way we were structured back then the paid force was supplemented with volunteers and as a paid FF i will say it was nice pulling up with 4 or 5 on a single engine or truck and it worked out real well but we did have a few that took the "i'm a volunteer and i'm not doing that" stance when it came to the less glamerous portions of the fire department and after a claraification session they made their choice BUT on the paid side anamosity grew because some were able to get away with the "they allways make me sweep and mop the floor...while they wash and wax the truck" or "they make me wash the truck while they cook the dinner that we all eat together"-(but they would forget that we would never ask the night vollie to pay into the meal we just threw him or her in)
I guess i'm just wondering if the paid fire service is really that invested in the demise of the volunteer service. i spent the majority of my carrear as a paid FF-EMT and i never felt threatened by the vollies because i started out as a vollie (and in retirement, i'm back with them) but i am disturbed by what i am seeing in the fire service that i love so much.
Again i'm not looking to start the volunteer vs. paid war, i am looking for what i can do to help preserve the volunteer service because i believe both can exist as long as there is an atmsophere of MUTUAL RESPECT
(this is one "add discusion" i hope i wont regret)
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by John Crabbe on
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I would think having a regular doctor's checkup and checkups as you age and having a exercise program should be a must even for volunteers to keep them around for years to come.
Some good points....but you do allude to a significant hinderance for many volly companies and could be construed as a contributor to the "demise of vollies". The aspect of having a physical fitness or at minimum physical screenings prior to volunteers coming on has been a sticking point in the recruitment of members. We have seen enough threads and likewise topics where the cost aspect and even probability of recruits meeting or passing such standards come into play. As such, we see the aspect of "take what you can get" approach that still plays a prominent, yet questionable sustainence of maintaining volunteers.
So basically, the aspect of physicals or physicals standards being further pushed and focused on has also created an obstacle in the overall picture of maintaining volunteer FFs. This in turns leads to another point in the overall picture affecting the "demise of volunteers", when there are standards pushed for in regards to physicals standards, it reduces the pool of applicants that much more. So in return becomes a Catch 22, situation.
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Permalink Reply by Bob Callahan on
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Not to derail this into another exterior debate, but there are no minimum training standards for volunteer or career personnel in LA.
There is a de facto standard dfor career members set by the Firefighter's Retirement System which states that any career member who wishes to be entered into the retirement system must be FFI. There is also a requirement that any career member who wants to receive state supplemental pay must be FFI, but both of these are simply administrative requirements set by the state agency responsible for each area to recieve state pay and be enrolled in the retirement system.
The fact is that very few states require FFI for volunteer personnel. Some require a course ranging from 36-60 hours, and many, many others require little else or nothing at all.
Given this flexability in most states not unduly hamstrung by FFI requirements, limited duty personnel are a real option for volunteer departments in most states and can certainly be quite useful in supplementing interior members on the fireground.
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Permalink Reply by Don Catenacci on
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Reply by Bob Callahan
There are solutions. We as a service just have to be willing to look beyond the doors of the fire station and the way that we have always approached membership.
Your answers hide the fact that you rely on your state having no minimum standards.
1. Recognize that recruiting is hard work, and a speciality. Recruiting isn't just something that you do in a hurry - it requires identifying your departments strengths, identifying who in your community is likely yo volunteer and just as importantly, why they will volunteer, developing a message for those incorporating the reasons they are likely to volunteer and delivering the messages to those target audiences in multiple ways and multiple places.Yes, it is more than throwing a few signs and posters up.
It requires a knowledge of marketing and motivation. It requires sending a member or two to college level courses on the subjects and utilizing the same marketing principles that are used to sell soap, hamburgers or any other product, because that is what the volunteer fire service is - a product.
Funny thing is both of my POC FDs really have no official recruiting program and both have full rosters. One has had new people trying to join every month for over a year. Sometimes 3 or 4 a month apply. With that knowledge we can eliminate the deadwood, do nothing but wear the t-shirt types.
Why are both full? We are respected organizations with REQUIRED attendance at State training courses to meet minimum standards. We have minimum attendance requirements for drills. To me if you bild a quality organization people will want to belong to that organization. If you create a good old boys club, where training and standards for performance are lacking quality people will leave or stay away in the first place.
Of course there will always be places that will always have difficulties recruting. Population base and local employment opportunities can play havoc with recruiting at times.
2. Recognize that people in this economy have value. Recognize the wide variety of ways that ways that people want to be rewarded.That may include slight reimbursement, family activities, coffe mugs now and then or simply recognition on aboard in the station for going above and beyond. The fact is the volunteer fire service needs to understand that folks need some type of motivation and they need to be rewarded... and that doesn't always mean money.Pay for calls, training, meetings, at both POC FDs and pay for doing maintenance at one of them is an incentive for some. I can tell you though in 35 years I have been asked 1 time by someone interested in joining what the pay was. They mistakenly believed we were a full time fire department and walked away when they found out we were not and that we got pad once a year around Christmas. People who join a volly/POC FD for the money generally don't stick around. Their motivation is all wrong. I look at the holiday check as a bonus, not as my motivation for being there.
I have stressed to the Chief for a couple of years now that we need to take some of the fund raiser money we make every year and spend it on some items for the troops. I suggested wire cutters and Fiskars snips for everyone, which we did. I have suggested an Xbox 360 and a big screen TV so guys would hang around the FD for quicker responses. I suggested a pizza oven and a well stocked freezer with pizzas for after meetings, drills and calls. Some of the guys are pushing for Streamlight xl90's for everyone. The fact is most people join to be firefighters and the reward needs to come for the ancillary crap we must do like fund raising.
3. Recognize that we are in compettion for volunteers with a number of other entitiies. Develop a sense of who we are and implement that sense. Market who we are.
Good organizations rarely have the same problems recruiting as crappy ones do. Look at the Marines, look at the best and brightest companies, look at the best and brightest colleges. Yes they recruit, but WHY do people want to go there? It is simple, REPUTATION. Demand more of people and they will rise to that level if they want to belong. Expect less and people will rarely shock you by attempting to achieve more. Those that do get ridiculed or shunned and eventually they say screw it and leave.
4. have a plan forr when members walk into the door. Let them know what the process is, and what they will be doing to progress through the process. Be honest about the time committment. Don't waste their time. Don't waste their time. And don't waste thier time.
Both of my POC FDs are honest, one FDs handbook spells out EXACTLY the training, meeting and attendance requirements. We don't waste their time and have little time for those that waste ours with BS and excuses.
5. Not every firefighter has to be a rifleman. Allow for exterior firefighters. Allow for drivers only. Allow for fireground and non-fireground support members. Allow for folks to help out in thier area of expertise even if they want nothing to do with fire including prevention, fund raising, apparatus maiantainece, RECRUITING, admin, etc etc etc.
WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!!! Every firefighter HAS to be a FIREFIGHTER! I need to know every person on the rig with me is capable of doing all the things required of a firefighter on that particular department. The last thing I want to do is arrive on scene with a fully staffed apparatus with no one but me able to go interior to save Mrs MacGillacuddy.
If you want ancillary people changing bottles, doing rehab, and other needed tasks that don't require a firefighter that is fine by me. Dress them differently, call them support, but they are NOT and never will be firefighters if they don't do actual interior firefighting.
I believe it is absolutely appropriate to have members of the FD that can do administrative book work, recruiting, fund raising, fire prevention and even truck repairs and maintenance. They are members of the fire department but they are definitely NOT firefighters. Anymore than the mechanic or the secretaries or code enforcement specialists are...
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Permalink Reply by Don Catenacci
Reply by Bob Callahan
There are solutions. We as a service just have to be willing to look beyond the doors of the fire station and the way that we have always approached membership.
Your answers hide the fact that you rely on your state having no minimum standards.
Honestly not sure what that has to do with my points on recruiting.
Both of my current departments, as well as my 2 previous departments in the northeast, have/had internal standards that in our opinion, meets our needs based on the district and the services that we provide. I know many other combo and volunteer departments that also have developed internal standards thast meet the needs of their organizations. A state minimum is generally not needded and does not in the long run benefit the volunteer fire service. But we have had this discussion in the past and surprisingly, neither one of us has changed ourt opinions.
My point was simply that there are departments that have a hard time adjusting to the new ways of marketing products, such as fire departments, and need to adapt if they are going to be competitive in terms of recruiting.
1. Recognize that recruiting is hard work, and a speciality. Recruiting isn't just something that you do in a hurry - it requires identifying your departments strengths, identifying who in your community is likely yo volunteer and just as importantly, why they will volunteer, developing a message for those incorporating the reasons they are likely to volunteer and delivering the messages to those target audiences in multiple ways and multiple places.
Yes, it is more than throwing a few signs and posters up.
It requires a knowledge of marketing and motivation. It requires sending a member or two to college level courses on the subjects and utilizing the same marketing principles that are used to sell soap, hamburgers or any other product, because that is what the volunteer fire service is - a product.
Funny thing is both of my POC FDs really have no official recruiting program and both have full rosters. One has had new people trying to join every month for over a year. Sometimes 3 or 4 a month apply. With that knowledge we can eliminate the deadwood, do nothing but wear the t-shirt types.
Why are both full? We are respected organizations with REQUIRED attendance at State training courses to meet minimum standards. We have minimum attendance requirements for drills. To me if you bild a quality organization people will want to belong to that organization. If you create a good old boys club, where training and standards for performance are lacking quality people will leave or stay away in the first place.
Of course there will always be places that will always have difficulties recruting. Population base and local employment opportunities can play havoc with recruiting at times.
And I stated in another thread, that is also the case with my combo department. We do zero recruiting and have 2-4 new members walk in the door each month. To a limited extent, that was also the case with my previous VFD though we did recruit aggressivly to supplement those that were coming in on thier own.
My VFD is a much smaller community with a much older population base, so recruiting there is a significant issue. We are trying some new approaches and we'll see how that works out.
And yes, you are right that often quality and a solid reputation brings members in the door. That being said, the demands that form that reputation may actually in some cases cause more members to shy away from coming in the door than it attracts, and that can be an issue.
2. Recognize that people in this economy have value. Recognize the wide variety of ways that ways that people want to be rewarded.That may include slight reimbursement, family activities, coffe mugs now and then or simply recognition on aboard in the station for going above and beyond. The fact is the volunteer fire service needs to understand that folks need some type of motivation and they need to be rewarded... and that doesn't always mean money.
Pay for calls, training, meetings, at both POC FDs and pay for doing maintenance at one of them is an incentive for some. I can tell you though in 35 years I have been asked 1 time by someone interested in joining what the pay was. They mistakenly believed we were a full time fire department and walked away when they found out we were not and that we got pad once a year around Christmas. People who join a volly/POC FD for the money generally don't stick around. Their motivation is all wrong. I look at the holiday check as a bonus, not as my motivation for being there.
I have stressed to the Chief for a couple of years now that we need to take some of the fund raiser money we make every year and spend it on some items for the troops. I suggested wire cutters and Fiskars snips for everyone, which we did. I have suggested an Xbox 360 and a big screen TV so guys would hang around the FD for quicker responses. I suggested a pizza oven and a well stocked freezer with pizzas for after meetings, drills and calls. Some of the guys are pushing for Streamlight xl90's for everyone. The fact is most people join to be firefighters and the reward needs to come for the ancillary crap we must do like fund raising.
I fully agree that pay is not the issue, but I talking about a simple reimbursement that covers fuel and damaged clothing. An example is my combo where volunteer and off-duty career members recieve three points (usually about $12) for training and 5 points (usually about $20) for a structure fires. All other calls they recive 1 or 2 points ($4-8). My VFD is looking into implementing a similiar system.
The fact is rewarding many members, as you say, involves little or no cash payment. Activities, family events, simple gifts such as coffee mugs, gift certificates and other low cost items can make a world of difference. Noc ost items such as simple bragging boards, firefighter of the month boards and other station recognitions can go a very long way.
I really love the pizza oven and stock of pizza idea. I'd be curious to find out what it costs you each month to keep the stock up.
3. Recognize that we are in compettion for volunteers with a number of other entitiies. Develop a sense of who we are and implement that sense. Market who we are.
Good organizations rarely have the same problems recruiting as crappy ones do. Look at the Marines, look at the best and brightest companies, look at the best and brightest colleges. Yes they recruit, but WHY do people want to go there? It is simple, REPUTATION. Demand more of people and they will rise to that level if they want to belong. Expect less and people will rarely shock you by attempting to achieve more. Those that do get ridiculed or shunned and eventually they say screw it and leave.
I have no disagreements with that. problem is there are communities where the best and the brighest aren't necessarily what you and i would call the best and the brightest, and the standards have to meet what by and large the community can provide. is that the way i would like it? No. But in some places that is the reality.
4. have a plan forr when members walk into the door. Let them know what the process is, and what they will be doing to progress through the process. Be honest about the time committment. Don't waste their time. Don't waste their time. And don't waste thier time.
Both of my POC FDs are honest, one FDs handbook spells out EXACTLY the training, meeting and attendance requirements. We don't waste their time and have little time for those that waste ours with BS and excuses.
I wish my combo department was a little more upfront about the expectations. There are times that we simply do not give enough information about what e expect.
My VFD is getting better at this but we still have some work to do.
5. Not every firefighter has to be a rifleman. Allow for exterior firefighters. Allow for drivers only. Allow for fireground and non-fireground support members. Allow for folks to help out in thier area of expertise even if they want nothing to do with fire including prevention, fund raising, apparatus maiantainece, RECRUITING, admin, etc etc etc.
WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!!! Every firefighter HAS to be a FIREFIGHTER! I need to know every person on the rig with me is capable of doing all the things required of a firefighter on that particular department. The last thing I want to do is arrive on scene with a fully staffed apparatus with no one but me able to go interior to save Mrs MacGillacuddy.
If you want ancillary people changing bottles, doing rehab, and other needed tasks that don't require a firefighter that is fine by me. Dress them differently, call them support, but they are NOT and never will be firefighters if they don't do actual interior firefighting.
I believe it is absolutely appropriate to have members of the FD that can do administrative book work, recruiting, fund raising, fire prevention and even truck repairs and maintenance. They are members of the fire department but they are definitely NOT firefighters. Anymore than the mechanic or the secretaries or code enforcement specialists are...
We will likely always disagree on this but I have seen it work with none of the issues that you seem to worry about. it allows members with fireground skills to operate as such without having to operate interior if there are physical or mental issues that may prevent interior operations.
I'm sure most of the folks here have seen our debates on this subject so let's just agree to disagree.
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Permalink Reply by Jack/dt on
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"And yes, you are right that often quality and a solid reputation brings members in the door. That being said, the demands that form that reputation may actually in some cases cause more members to shy away from coming in the door than it attracts, and that can be an issue."
So what happens then, you lower your standards, accept whatever warm body walks through the door and find a place for them? Great, only problem is, while your department may very well grow, it will fill with people who can/will/want to do everything BUT extinguish fire (or do so from the inside).
So you end up with a skeleton of a department, admin, fund raisers, hose rollers, coffer makers, but no flesh or muscle; interior firefighters. At what point do you decide you are no long a fire department?"problem is there are communities where the best and the brighest aren't necessarily what you and i would call the best and the brightest, and the standards have to meet what by and large the community can provide."
So you are (not even suggesting but) saying that a fire department has to lower its standards to meet that of the local community? So if the local community has a collective standard such that they can only make coffee, drive apparatus and place warning cones that that would be the fire department? Were that the case the *department* needs to be dismantled, parted out and let everyone keep a fire bucket in their house.
Bob, you are always on about lowering or eliminating standards and letting local communities decide for themselves what level of fire protection/service they want. Were that the case with automobiles, they would go 250 mph, have no safety protection systems and the national death rates would be astronomical...because people (communities) would rather have fast, CHEAP cars that make a lot of noise. That mind set hold true with fire protection. Give a community the opportunity to cheapen up their fire service and they would be happy to do so. Give a fire department the opportunity to lower their standards and they will happily oblige so that they get a higher body count regardless of the level of service. [But for some damned reason, Police and EMS never seem to lower THEIR standards. Nor does Education.]
I'm not sure at all why a fire department can't be upfront about the commitment expected from their members. What do these people think they are joining, the Shriners? And why would a fire department want to withhold or in any way NOT be upfront with prospective members about their necessary commitment? More interested in that body count I suspect. After all, would a Chief rather be Chief of Department that has 20 members, or 120 members?
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This has been a topic that has been hashed out before, with no agreement. And there is really no point in getting into it again.
You believe that every community should have an interior based department, and somehow if the volunteers can't pull it off despite a list of very legitimate reasons, that community of 300, or even 3000, should somehow be able to pony up with the money from a generally non-existant tax base to make it happen with career personnel. Well, in most of this country that just ain't reality and never will be.
There will always be a big chunk of VFDs that are either primarily or all exterior in terms of operations, and if the community has no issue with that, that's just plain fine with me.
I have no issues with any department being up front. If you want to operate interior, this is what is required. Fine. But guess what, if you don't have that kind of time we fully understand and you can also operate as an exterior firefighter, a driver-only, or a support person, and here is the training time required to function in those positions. Sorry, but not every firefighter in a volunteer department, especially a rural volunteer department needs to be a rifleman. It simply isn't and likely never will be realistic for a whole bunch of small departments in small communities.
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Bob,
Your replies to Don and Jack does advocate for reducing standards and does appear you are basing such suggestions from your corner of the world. As I stated before with your first mention of the exterior only folks, that it may not be as simple as a volly dept to make such positions.
Regardless of the latest aspect being discussed, the reality is this thread started out as to questioning the demise of the volunteer fire service. I would believe advocation of lessor standards would be a significant contributor to such a demise. The reality is the volunteer fire services are facing the issues as pointed out on page one. Changing and aging demographics, less time for potential members, increased training requirements, increased standards and so forth. Let alone the fact that call volume typically increases and once all volunteer rural departments have been finding themselves as a suburban dept due to sprawl and so forth. Quite simply suggesting that standards be lowered just to maintain a bigger head count, does NOT suffice.You believe that every community should have an interior based department, and somehow if the volunteers can't pull it off despite a list of very legitimate reasons, that community of 300, or even 3000, should somehow be able to pony up with the money from a generally non-existant tax base to make it happen with career personnel. Well, in most of this country that just ain't reality and never will be.
If this was directed at Don, the simple reality is the state he resides in has a minimum standard for volunteers which includes being SCBA and interior certified. He also touts how the volly depts he belongs to has no problem getting members, and there are still others that have no problem despite such minimum standards. Your state doesn't require minimums and while that is a debate in itself, it also doesn't reflect the realities facing the fire service, because again, their is more facing the volly fire service than standards alone.
Your comments about communities ponying up money for career FFs is out of line and is not what was said. Plain and simple. The fact isn't about trying to replace vollies with career, but there are factors that volly depts are facing to provide a level of service to the community. Those challenges are broad and factors on many things.....again go back and read page 1.......and aren't going away. The advocation of decreasing standards should not be the option. If a dept can't meet the service levels with the personnel they have they can recruit, hire fulltimers, or disband as opposed to trying to feign an image of a "dept" without having enough people adequately trained.There will always be a big chunk of VFDs that are either primarily or all exterior in terms of operations, and if the community has no issue with that, that's just plain fine with me
You last comments about the communities opinions doesn't realistically speak for the people, you know these guys will ask you to back up those claims. As for a big chunk of VFDs being exterior only, also can be attributed to the fact that they can't meet NFPA standards, or by the time they arrive on scene the structure is basically a loss anyway. That doesn't mean there should be an advocation of weakened standards.
Yet, to get away from the exterior only aspect, as this has been hashed over several times already, the facet of these depts your speaking of, do tend to be small and rural depts. Yet, going back to the original post, the issue isn't about those small rural depts alone, but the volunteer fire service as a whole, and perhaps moreso with the OP's area which appears to be a combination dept. There are differences involved.
For those once all volly depts that have seen urban sprawl etc, face the issues as stated already. As such those factors are not going away so how do you adjust to maintain service levels? The answer in many such places has been to hire fulltimers, because many do tend to have more taxbase coming in. Other depts have seen mergers with other nearby depts, thus the aspect of relinquishing a single dept control. Other places, especially in close proximity to schools with fire education programs, have hired on students to be interns. Yet, it is a rarity that the citizens are advocating weakened and less standards just to keep a volunteer base....typically it is quite the contrary.
As for those small rural depts, again, many of the same issues affecting other depts are facing them. Sure there may not be money to hire fulltimers, and nobody is advocating that either. However, there is the aspect of looking to merge with other depts etc as opposed to just say to weaken the standards because it fits nicer for you.
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Permalink Reply by Moose on
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I have a few more questions for anyone that wishes to answer please.
Has anyone here ever been involved with a merger between two fire departments? What is involved with a merger and how can it be done successfully? If you need an example use my department; right now as of last month we now only have 4 interior firefighters not including the 2 remaining chiefs. We have about 13 active members and most of them are fire police, or past officers who are getting too old to do much interior work. We are not looking at a bright future as far as recruitment goes unfortunately...
We have 3 mutual aid departments that are fairly busy, have decent rosters of interior trained firefighters and hold their own when it comes to responding to and mitigating calls. We are a Fire District with a board of commissioners, and our chief of 5 years just resigned the whole department without reason.
We are in bad shape I admit, and I think our community needs a better level of service than what we can provide but career staffing is not an option in my area unfortunately.
If anyone has info about merging 2 volunteer departments I would be extremely appreciative if you could share it. Feel free to message me or email me also.
Thanks in advance.
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I have addressed many of those other factors that have been discussed regarding the recruitiment issues in the volunteer service, as we had faced them in my oprvious volunteer department as well as my current department.
The volunteer fire service needs to start seeing the recrutiting side of the operation as an coordinated, planned on-going part of the department with the same emphasis as suppression/rescue response, training, maintainenece and administration, and as such, needs to send members assigned to recruiting to college level marketing and HR classes just as we send members to Instructor and Officer classes when fesiable. We need to put a greater emphasis on motivation and reward - both monatary and non-monitary and develop flexability in our training schedules. And yes, one part that I discussed was the intergration of non-interior supression staffing so that we give potential members some options in terms of the role they wish to play in the operation.
I understand there are a very FEW states that require FFI that make this option unworkable, but in most states, this is not an issue. Is it for every department, no, but i suspect in would work in most VFDs. Ity worked in my previous VFD in a moderate-density surburban department with significant structural challenges as well as my current combo department, which while primarily rural, does have a moderate-density surburban core.
And yes, I understand that the recruiting problem stretches beyond the rural areas.
The fact is that if you wish to see FFI as the standard, great. I disagree and feel that imposing that standard on the volunteer fire service will quickly destroy many departments in communities with no other realistic fire protection options.
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I have never been involved with the complete merger of multiple departments, but I have been involved with an operational merger.
Several years ago, in my previous VFD, we along with 3 neighboring departments, began operating in many respects as asingle agemcy while still retaining our automony. We utilized a common rookie class using instructors and facilities from each department. We bagan running automatic mutual aid on all calls involving a structure 24/7 with the understanding that the highest ranking officer irregardless of jurisdiction would have command of the incident. We began assigning specific operational responsbilities to specific departments to develop expertise in those areas.
That may be an option for your situation.
The fact is combining into a single department given the govermental (multiple towns) and structural issues that would have been required to actually merge into a single entitiy would have been a significant issue, and for that reason, it was not purseued.
As far as the merger, a lot depends on the taxing structure. Here in LA, to merge fire districts, the state legislature must first abolish the merging districts and then the voters must apporve the formation and the taxing authority as well as the milage rates of the new district. The entire process can easily take up to a year. I have no idea what the process would be in NY, but I suspect it would be similiar.
If the departments are not a taxing authority (such as my previous VFD which was a non-prpofit corporation) or run out of a town, city or village budget, I suspect the process would be a bit simplier.
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Moose,
My guess is the Chief woke up one day looked at the situation and said "Why am I sticking my neck out like this? We tell the community we have a fire department when in reality unless the sitution is perfect we can't go inside to effect rescue or fire attack. Nope the liability is too great. Time to walk away."
I hate to say this but unless your situation turns around and turns around quickly you will either need to move for a merger, even though I can't see why anyone would merge with a dying department, or simply close down the FD and let one of your neighbors take over fire protection for your community. As it stands right now you have exactly the type of small town fire department Bobby likes to use as an example. Not enough interior members to do interior work and no successful recruiting. Well, that offers nothing more than a false sense of security to the community and eventually will bite you all in the ass.
Good luck Brother, I feel you will need it.
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Yes, and coming from 2 larger volunteer departments in my past I agree. This department is dying and we are relying on mutual aid a lot more lately, even for EMS runs. We had 3 people show for an MVA a few weeks ago...
I feel lucky that my wife and I are currently looking for a house to buy, because I know I am looking in another district when we do buy a house. Its sad to say, but I have tried and tried to talk sense to them and always get the routine response; "This is the way we have always done it so why change???" (famous final words)
The rest of my county is coming around, they are having more and more Firefighter I classes at our new training tower, and departments are hooking up with each other to train there as well. We are getting a better quality firefighter than we did years ago when I went through the training, and I saw a lot of guys at class with their feet up on the table joking around and learning nothing, than they get that worthless piece of paper and say they are trained...
Since joining this department I got us a thermal imager and gas meter through a grant I wrote, I got a used engine donated to us that they turned down because of pride, I started a better training regimine and schedule that ended up making a lot of members not show on drill nights any more...why? Because they were not just hanging out any more they had to actually practice skills.
Thanks for the good luck wishes, but what I need is a "Total Fire Department Makeover", is there any reality shows out there for that?!??!
(great now Im depressed as all hell......)
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