I just want to say thanks and congratulations to the 40+ volunteer firefighters, first responders, county, town and village officials who attended our "Leadership in the Firehouse" conversation last night at the Genesee County Fire Training Center in Batavia NY.

My helmet is off to you for taking the important first step in openly and honestly discussing the fact that we as fire service leaders face greater people management (recruitment and retention) challenges than ever before – and much more than we can effectively address as individuals or individual fire departments.

We all know that the first step in any good “12-step program” is admitting we have a problem. And, God knows I’m a prime candidate for several 12-step programs.

So, remember, work as a team to build a bigger, better team because nothing breeds success – like success itself.

I look forward to working with and for the survival and success of the volunteer fire service in Genesee County – and in your neighborhood too.

Read my other blogs and let me know what you think of my whacky ideas. I look forward to your feedback.

As promised, here’s some of the R&R resources we discussed last night – and some we didn’t get to.

Stay safe. Train often.

www.erie.gov/fire - This is where I hang my helmet every day

www.fasny.com – 48,000 members (strong?)

www.nvfc.org – Great R&R resources available for download

www.firecorps.org – I think everyone should have one

www.volunteermatch.org – If it’s free – it’s for me!

www.ecvfc.org – Hey, that’s my company!

www.firefighternewspaper.com – Managing Editor for 7 years. Had to quit cold turkey.

www.firefighternation.com – It doesn’t get any slicker than this. Meet me here.

www.myspace.com – Not just for acne-clad adolescents any more

www.facebook.com – Myspace for adults

www.buffalo.com/yourhub - Keep it real. Keep it local.

www.rollwithit.com – The sexiest damn thing I’ve ever seen in recruitment efforts

www.spotsyfire.org – Nice recruitment video and ads from a county-wide fire department (Wow! Now there’s a crazy-ass idea)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsW786u2mFU – Rockland County’s (NY) cool recruitment video

www.prideandownership.com – You absolutely, positively have to buy the DVD and the book “Pride & Ownership” by one of my personal heroes: Chief Rick Lasky

http://server.firehouse.com/carter/2000/081800.html - Harry Carter's "Are You a Good Follower" article. He gets this leadership thing.

www.firemansfund.com/intothefire - Another must have. Great motivational tool for your troops and a great recruitment tool for your target audience

http://www.pennwellblogs.com/fenews/smokeshowing - Smoke Showing. Ditto.

And last but certainly not least, from my friend and mentor Billy Goldfeder:

www.firefighterclosecalls.com – Not much about recruitment but I’m pretty sure “keeping us alive” is a great start towards retention. If you’re not subscribing to “The Secret List” you must be a special kind of stupid…

Here’s a bunch more that I just can’t think of any smart-ass comments to make about them:

VFD Resources - http://vfd-resources.com/firefighter_training/VFD%20Management%20Course/table_of_contents.htm

North Carolina Recruitment Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5wgLD00iW0

Volunteer Firefighter Recruitment & Retention in rural Pennsylvania

http://www.ruralpa.org/Volunteer_firefighters06.pdf

How to Recruit Volunteer Firefighters: http://www.ehow.com/how_2081437_find-volunteer-firefighters.html

http://albemarle.org/upload/images/Forms_Center/Departments/Fire_and_Rescue/Forms/r_r/2004/7Jun04_RR_Minutes.pdf

http://www.vcos.org/resources/Recruitment%20&%20Retention%20Austrialian%20-%20US%20Study.pdf

http://www.okotoks.ca/pdf/Human%20Resources/employment/VolPostingFF07.pdf

http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/downloads/pdf/publications/fa-310.pdf