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Participation
What if anything does your departments do if you have a member who has little or no participation? Volunteering is what we do but we have people who depend on us. When do they get put on inactive list or are taken off the department? Does any other departments have this problem? We have taken over 10 people off the department in the past year because of inactivity. These people are usually the ones who want to say "look at ME i am a firefighter" but when the tones drop they are no where to be found. Inactivity is not just during runs, but meetings, trainings, and special events.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Dewayne and Diana Bean on
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Thanks! for the reply! This may be something we need to incorporate into our SOP's
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Permalink Reply by Rescue601 on
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Sounds like you should work to find out why so many are inactive and see what you can do to get them more active. Merely sending people on their way won't solve much and soon you will have a manpower issue if you dont already.
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Well actually since some of these people are just there to say look at me! Most of those individuals we don't miss, however we have our faithfuls who always show up, but manpower might become an issue later but not now. Our department is often called out for Mutal Aid even if we are not the closest to respond because the other department say Grapevine always shows up!
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Thanks for saying it like it is!
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My point was that perhaps there is some larger reason why the people chose to be inactive. For example, they may not like an officer or they dislike a new policy or some other reason. I doubt its as simple as they want to be a wacker.
Sure an SOP can address the you better be active or you will be fired, but it doesn't answer the reason why they are inactive.
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I understand what you are saying believe me I do but if there was not any action taken we would have a lot of useless expensive gear on the wall when we could supply our active firefighters with what they need. There does need to be discussion on some issues but again it is volunteer.
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With my department we conduct an interview upon separation to get a feel for where things stand. We do this for members that resign or those that are terminated. It gives a chance for the now ex member to air any complaints they have and/or give us suggestions.
Our SOP's address participation in a progressive approach. If you fall below 60% participation for more than 2 months you are put on probation. If in the next two months you don't come back above 60% then you are suspended and your pager and radio is confiscated. If you don't make 80% of all the training meetings for the next two months after that then you are then terminated.
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Permalink Reply by anne potter on
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Have these people always been inactive, or just started...
I come from a small town and this happens alot when it comes to activties certain people do it all the time..
Then the whistle blows and the no does show up..
Being from a small town I much rather see the truck go out the door than know that it hasn't because we kicked someone out.
What we do is give activty dollars to each member for what they do..
At the end they can buy what ever they want with that acitvity dollar being from turnout gear,to anything involving firedept.. Jacket,gloves, patches. whatever.
This usually get people involve because they are getting something for what they have done..
Times are tough alot of people are having to get second jobs to support their families.
This argument has been around for decades with no simple answers ... Your dept must have alot of members and can afford to kick out members and thats great.We do things to invite members to be active... It has worked nothing will be perfect , we have to accept that we have the ones who are there and well the ones who are not... It won't change.. Just work with it.
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Permalink Reply by Joe Smith on
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Our department has an item in the bylaws that states an active member must be present to 50% of all fire runs, emergency runs, training meetings, monthly meetings and work details. The only catch to that is if you are working, nothing can be held against you. The trustees of our department review the attendance records quarterly. If someone has fell well below the 50% they are brought in and talked to. After that meeting, the member must attend 100% of all events outside their work schedule or they are kicked off the department.
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Permalink Reply by John on
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The only thing I know our Department will do is if the training drops below 75% they will get taken out of service til they make up the training missed.
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Permalink Reply by Dustin J. Millis on
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Trust me, you are NOT alone in this problem. It's been a problem my dept. has been facing since I got on and youre right, the same guys that are always walking around bragging about being a FF are the same guys that are nowhere to be found when the tones drop. I'm sure there are a couple of guys like that reading this post right now and you know who you are. Anyway... up until this year, we didnt really do much about it except sit them down every once and a while and bitch em out. After about the thousanth time of doing that though, it gets frustrating. Therefore, our new bi-laws for this year state that all FF's must make at least 20% of calls for the year. After printing up the stats for last year, about 15 guys will be gone by the end of this year unless they straighten up. You hate to do that to these guys that really are good guys but are just busy. But on the same hand, if youre that busy; you shouldnt be a volunteer.
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