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Comment by Joe Gangway on February 18, 2011 at 12:27am

Fire Fighters that don't make drills or meetings for no good reason are dead wood . We all need to keep our skills at the best standards and that is through drills and meeting . Tell the cheif to go for it. No Department has use for Dead Wood (it's only fuels for the fire ). Stand -up do the job you asked to do.You asked the dept. for the job they didn't ask you. This is pay ,pay on call, or volunteer. You must walk the walk to talk the talk. There are people counting on all of us .Training keep fire fighters coming home alive.

Comment by Michael on February 17, 2011 at 7:22pm

Are u guys paid on call or 100% vol. If u r paid on call u can start paying 5 bucks a meeting and trainging to. Or start a % make it mandatory to attend at least 40% a year or what ever and if they cant meet this then u guys should vote them off.

Comment by krys on February 15, 2011 at 12:41pm

I was starting to put together an online training course that addresses department standards, protocols, requirements, etc... that new members would need to take and pass before their probationary period is up. It seems a lot of people come in to the department, get the member book and leave it on their dining room table for the next 6 months. I was thinking of at around the 5th month, giving them the key to access the course, either from home or the station (which prints a certificate upon successful completion) and at the 6 month business meeting when they are voted in having them be able to present this in support of their full membership.

Maybe reinforcing this way would help....

Comment by Daniele on February 14, 2011 at 9:24pm

Our chief instated a three strike policy. If you miss three meetings/training sessions, you are gone. He only allowed the exception of work and things of the like. He also allowed people to bring their kids to the training because some people didn't have babysitters. We would just take turns overseeing the youngsters. Made things take a bit longer, but turnout became a lot better.

Comment by David Coffin on February 14, 2011 at 8:59am

This is a challenging issue. We had this issue for a while as well. When I took over as chief, I sat down and analyzed why people weren't participating in training or other non-run activities. I found that it was not really a policy issue (we had a comprehensive policy in place.) In part it was an issue of enforcing policy, but that was also only a small part of it. I had to ask why people didn't want to participate - or even just "hang out" like they used to. I found that much of it was a leadership issue - or rather a lack of leadership. I focused on building a strong leadership process - make sure everyone knows their role and who to turn to for whatever is needed.

I also worked to identify members who had something to offer and empowered them to act on it. This resulted in line firefighters (even probationary ones with certain skill sets) jumping in and helping with training so that it wasn't the same people telling others how to do things.

Every department has groups of firefighters and each group has one or two firefighters that are looked up to by the rest of the group. I worked to identify those groups and the influential members within each group. I then tapped into these members for their knowledge and encouraged them to be involved more. By recognizing what they have to offer the department and giving them the opportunity to be more involved, I found that the others in that group also started to be more involved.

I worked on this approach for a few months (maybe even a year) before really enforcing the rules in a heavy-handed manner. There were a few stragglers that still weren't participating and, after working so hard on this, they either left or gave us sufficient reason to kick them off.

Two things I've learned:
1. Be patient. If you want to fix this for the long-term, it will take time. (I've been working on it since June of 2008 and we're still not where I want to be.)
2. Forcing someone to do something will not result in a long-term fix.

Comment by Andrew Salinger on February 13, 2011 at 5:04am

the other thing we do is if you dont train you are last on the truck even if you are the first to the station.

Comment by Erik Wood on February 12, 2011 at 5:48pm

We do have a written training policy, we also have minimum standards...and mandatory drills that cover certain topics. We also have a field orientation policy...oddly enough it isn't the younger ones for the most part who don't attend....its the older ones.

Maybe a better question is....if my Chief enforced the training policy.....we wouldn't have to many firefighters....how do I combat that....especially given the limited (VERY limited) number of people who want to get on my or any other department in my area?

Thank you for all of the comments and suggestions....they are much appreciated.

Comment by Michael McCarthy on February 12, 2011 at 11:59am

my company has a set of by-laws based on the amount of years in the department you have to maintain a certain percentage. Members who are under the percentage are reviewed by the company officers and dthen they are dealt with accordingly. Some exceptions are real - ex: trainings held in the evening and the member works nights, member may have a family situation at home that isnt to be made public, etc. Some solutions that other departments that I have heard done are that members are put on a social function probation. Meaning that those members not living up to standards are no longer allowed to hangout at the firehouse after alarms - once members are released from the alarm they must leave the premises, also members are not allowed to attend social functions (dinners, parties, parades), members are not allowed to participate in department sponsored teams (softball team, drill team, band, etc.). All of these things I think are good ideas - if the member doesnt want to put in the work why should they reap the benefits.

But definitely some sort of standard has to be met and in written form based on what your organization feels is appropriate. This should be set in stone where every member is aware of it when they join the department and they should have them sign for the by-laws so they cant say they didnt know.

Just my two-cents.

Comment by Andrew Salinger on February 12, 2011 at 1:00am

we have a policy where you get reduced to non operational level if you don't train enough or attend any meetings. We have to train at least once a month and go to 6 meetings which are once a month. When we sign up to the station we are saying that we will comply with the policy.

Comment by Casey Stotts on February 11, 2011 at 7:30pm

In my 23 years in the fire service, I've never been to a "Volunteer" fire. When the tone goes off, the person needing help is expecting Trained Firefighters to show up that know what they are doing - not ones that do it when it's convenient for them.

If your firefighters don't want to train, maybe (and I know that this is hard to do sometimes) they should find a hobby where somebody’s lives are not depending on them.


I can give you some good ideas off line, if you want them... Good luck!

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