Where do we go when recruitment becomes non existent in some communities?

Where does everyone see the volunteer departments going that are no longer able to recruit people? We have had signs up and adds in the paper the last 3 years and we cant get people in our coverage area which comprises of a village and 3 townships. We maybe have had 4 inquiries but none can either pass a background check or a drug test?? We usuaully run around 70-80 fire calls (alarms, structures, vehicles, MVA's) and 200-250 EMS runs. We have have guys ready to retire but nobody inline to replace them.

I guess im just concerned about 5 years from now. We all have regular jobs and many of us work 2 jobs. Are communities like us going to have to just suck it up and hire full timers to ensure a response even though we dont have all that high of call volumes? What needs to be done. The people in our area obviously dont have an interest in become Firefighters/EMTs with all the recruitment we have done. Eventually response is certain to go badly.

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Permalink Reply by Bob Callahan on October 22, 2012 at 5:10pm

Bob,

We will never agree and I will stand fast in my opinion that YOU are as WRONG as WRONG can be. You want people that can't go interior then call them anything else, but they are NOT firefighters.

I also would very much like to meet these people that pay taxes for a fire department and willingly support that FD when they know that if they or their loved ones are trapped inside during a fire they are almost 100% guaranteed to die. I think you are absolutely delusional if you believe that those same citizens you claim know this don't sue or make life a living hell for the Chief, the entire FD, and the governing body if their loved ones die and they lose everything they own as your idea of a fire department stands outside and sprays water on the smoldering remains.

It's not my idea of a fire department, but in many communties, it's the best that they can do.

As I have said, I would love every VFD to have a large enough pool to draw plenty of interior firefighters supported by exterior firefighters to make an interior attack on every fire in thier response area, but sadly there are places where the demographics or the pool to draw from will not support a deaprtment such as that. in some cases, they may be close enough to a mutial aid department that can supoport them, but in rural America, that is more than likely not the case, and they do what they can do with what they have.

You seem to hold them almost in contempt, and blame them because they don't meet your idea of what a fire department should be when more often than not there is little they can do to change it. I'm sorry you feel that way.

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Permalink Reply by Don Catenacci on October 22, 2012 at 6:12pm

It's not my idea of a fire department, but in many communties, it's the best that they can do.

No, it is the best they BELIEVE they can do. So because they believe they can never be better they never strive to be better. They have leaders like you that say "Well boys, we will never have enough _________(fill in the blank) to be any better than we are. So let's be the best at being inadequate that we can!!"

They go on for years, maybe even decades without a huge loss, or a fatality, that is blamed on the fact that they are ill staffed, ill trained, ill equipped, and ill prepared for anything more than a grass fire or 2, a car fire, and a fully involved before they get there type of fire. But when it is time for the rubber to hit the road and save gramma Smith, or little Tommy Jones and they can't, or don't, even make an attempt, that is when it all falls apart.

I just shake my head in utter disbelief in your "throw in the towel" attitude. You are willing to admit that it is okay to have fire departments that will sooner or later be unable to save a victim trapped in a burning structure, but also turn down every viable alternative to that dusaster in waiting. You have pooh poohed mergers, you have slammed adding paid staff, you talk about sending people to college level courses to learn how to recruit but then say how your very own volly FD hasn't done that...So what is your answer? Well other than to leave these disasters in waiting to go to the inevitable end.

Let me tell you a little true story about my #1 POC FD. Back when I joined in 1977 there were about 20 active members. I was the youngest at 18, the next youngest was 35, and then the ages ran from 55 up to over 75 years old. Besides myself there were about a half a dozen of us that were willing to go inside. Most of the older guys knew it was time to leave but they didn't because no one in the community was stepping up. WHY? Because the FD was viewed as more of a good old boys club and less of a fire department. Oh they did a great job n the incidents they had. But the truth was if something serous happened mutual aid was needed to come in to save the day. After I joined I went to some of my friends and said come on join the FD you live here, it is your house you would be protecting, and we got an influx of younger guys. We didn't worry much about getting the older guys checked off to go interior because they had made it clear that as soon as we had enough young guys they would be leaving. Not pushed put by any means, they just knew there day had come and passed. So we went up in interior people dfown in those that were too old to go interior. We had ups and downs over the years membership wise but now we have a full roster, have turned people away because we simply don't have room or PPE for them. Our standards for training have gone up steadily over the years, our equipment is no longer older than most of the members on the FD, and attendance at both fires and drill is WAY up. What did we do to make this happen? We improved our reputation by improving our firefighters and our fire department. People want to belong to Top Notch organizations. They do not want to belong to sad sack, dying, organizations run by people that are satisfied with the status quo.

Contempt? No, what I am is tired of excuses being made for accepting piss poor fire protection and for those members of those fire departments for acepting the liability of doing the job with little or no community support. If the community doesn't care enough to stand up and support the fire department then why accept that load? Why accept that you must do the job with atiquated, broken down equipment, ramshackle fire stations, and a community that won't even come up with enough members to have a REAL fire department.

Contempt? Not a chance. More it is pity for those that stick their neck out with not a single clue that it could cost them everything they own just to project the image of having a fire deaprtment.

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Permalink Reply by Derek J Sinesi on October 23, 2012 at 10:39pm

Cap, I live 12 miles north of Judson Vickery in the Village of DeRuyter. I have to agree they do have a hard time getting new members there. I can say this because we work with them quit a bit. They have strong leadership and good firefighters and take the job serious. They just don't have a big population We on the other hand have been very lucky i guess we vote in new members all the time. We have 3 going to FF1 now and had 5 graduate this summer. The sad part about it is some of the guys we have join our department live in the Town of Cuyler which is right in the middle of us and Truxton. The reason they don't join in Cuyler is all the fighting between the commissioners, fire department members and town board. I'm not saying they don't have good men and women on their department but some just do not have common sense to keep their months shut i guess. Plus they have some pretty bad equipment. I can say this because we work with Cuyler all the time and it is nothing i haven't said to them myself all ready.

We have a Open House every year. We also do quite a bit of PR at the school and we also every Aug. have the largest fair in the county. We put our self's out in the public. We have practice every Monday. A lot of the times when someone is at the fire house all the doors are opened and we let people come in look at the trucks and fire house. After all it is theirs they pay for most of the stuff with their tax dollars so we don't hide nothing from them. Most importantly when we are out and someone ask's a question about what we do or how something works we take the time to answer or invite them down to see. We know everyone is busy and the training requirements are brutal but when someone asks for a application before they get it they are informed right then what is required.

We only run 30 to 40 calls a year. No EMS. Most of them our mutual aid. We have 37 members right now 20 are SCBA level 3 firefighters. We can have a truck on the road during day within 5 minutes with 4 SCBA qualified firefighters and operator. This is one reason why we are on everyone's mutual aid list. Like i said we are very lucky here not that we don't have our share of problems; but for the most part we are more blessed then most departments are size. Good luck to you get out there and show them what you do and be safe.