NVFC: Quantity of Volunteers is Down

According to this report released at NVFC.org, there were 44,000 fewer volunteer firefighters in 2010 compared to 2009, a reduction of 5.4 percent, according to the U.S. Fire Department Profile Through 2010, an annual report that was recently issued by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). The loss of volunteers is primarily coming in communities with populations of 2,500 or fewer, which were protected by 377,550 firefighters in 2010 compared with 408,550 in 2009, a drop of approximately 7.6 percent.

[Read the balance of the article here.]

Without reading the entire study, one could wonder whether or not those numbers are a bad thing or just a truer reflection of the real number of volunteers directly involved in firefighting, not just total number of active and inactive members of volunteer fire departments. If you read on in the NVFC article you’ll learn that while the total numbers are going down, the average age of those left behind is going up. That’s a real issue we need to address immediately and constantly.

Can you rise to the challenge?

An article posted to FirefighterNation.com today outlines the challenges faced by volunteer fire departments in Pennsylvania in recruiting and retaining their members. Although these types of articles are becoming all too frequent, this one in particular is better than most in that it focuses on the positives of being a volunteer firefighter — not all the negatives. I’ve cited many examples of what not to say if you’re actually looking to solve your R&R challenges in a previous post titled “Is this our best approach?” Too often, we hand a prospective candidate all of the reasons and excuses why they wouldn’t join on a silver platter.

Digital Recruitment and Retention

Burlington Township (NJ) Firefighter Matt Stahlnecker checks his mobile device while returning from a run on Rescue 30. Photo by: Tiger Schmittendorf

The world is changing rapidly and the fire service is getting caught up in the tornado effect of technology on our society.

More and more fire departments are smartly using web sites, e-mail and social networking tools like Facebook and Twitter to recruit new firefighters, share life safety information and to stay connected to their community. There isn’t much you can’t do with a mobile device today that took a super-computer to do less than 30 years ago.

And while we’re making strides in keeping our folks safer on the incident scene, there’s probably few bigger challenges today than to keep your folks out of trouble on social networks and the Internet. Sometimes ‘retention’ in the fire service devolves to preventing our people from doing stupid stuff.

I recently had the opportunity to facilitate a conversation titled: “From the Xbox to the Box Alarm” with a large group of fire instructors  for the University of Kansas Fire and Rescue Institute wherein we discussed today’s and tomorrow’s generation of firefighters. The conversation focused not only on the challenges in understanding, motivating, training and leading this unique cadre of individuals, but also enlightened the participants as to the tremendous potential they possess for moving our fire service forward.

And, naturally, you can’t have a conversation about today’s generation of firefighters without discussing the importance of technology and the impact of social networking.

I had the daunting task of following a presentation by Curt Varone, an accomplished

Symposium Brings Hot Firehouse Topics Together

Leadership, motivation, attitudes, safety, mentorship, negativity, recruitment, retention — sound like anything that might need addressing in your firehouse?

Then this leadership symposium is for you!

This two-day seminar brings together some of the hottest firehouse topics from some of the fire service’s emerging leaders including FireRECRUITER.com’s own Tiger Schmittendorf.

He’ll be joined by his good friend and fellow blogger Deputy Chief Jason Hoevelmann from Sullivan MO, Lt. Mike Mason, Downers Grove FD (IL) and Chief Tim Holman, German Township (OH) Fire & EMS.

Check out http://firstinresponseessentials.com/ for all the details. Be sure to download and share the flyer too.

We hope to see you there.

Stay safe. Train often.

The Difference Between Flush and Flushing

Having just completed a week-long National Fire Academy course in Advanced Safety Operations & Management, I was thinking of the correlation between safety — and recruitment — and retention. One could argue that the connections are both direct and significant.

If your fire department has a reputation for conducting operations safely and effectively — your audience: prospective candidates, stakeholders and the general public will have a positive impression about your organization. This is especially true when it comes to the often overlooked safety subject of health and wellness.

How well do you really take care of your members so that you minimize the risk of them not returning to their families at the end of a run. Isn’t that our most basic obligation to those who serve? I’m not referring to just physical care and safety SOGs, etc.

Recruitment Goes Statewide in NY

Congratulations to the members of FASNY’s Recruitment and Retention Committee for being proactive and planning a statewide recruitment effort for April 9 and 10, 2011.

They’re promoting the simple concept of each volunteer fire department hosting an open house that weekend and have backed it up with the marketing and planning tools to make your local efforts successful.

From sample press releases to web banners and everything in between, they’ve thought of it all and posted it to a single resource center at www.recruitny.org. I know we’ll be promoting it and encouraging FD participation in our county and I hope you will too, even if you don’t live in New York.

Check out the site and the resources and get ready to open your firehouse to hopefully what is a long line of prospective members of your volunteer fire department.

The Art of Speed-Recruiting

Doyle Hose Co. 1 Fire-Recruiters Brian Sas, Colton Marinelli and Don Keuck engage students during career day at their local high school.

If you had just 30 seconds to convince someone why they should join your volunteer fire department, what would you say? 

What would your message be? Do you have a standard sales pitch that you use for just such occasions? Can you even say hello in 30 seconds? 

I recently had the opportunity to coach and practice some speed-recruiting exercises with the Doyle Hose Co. 1 in Cheektowaga NY. They had been invited to be a part of career day at the local high school in their response area and they invited me to join them. 

CCVFA Publishes Report on Firefighters Behaving Badly

The fire service has a long-standing reputation as pillars of the community; the social epicenter of the community and as a vocation that citizens trust the most. 

However, reckless and inappropriate conduct by a small minority of the nation’s fire service is eroding the high moral ground occupied by firefighters says a White Paper sponsored by the Cumberland Valley Volunteer Firemen’s Association, (CVVFA). 

Live Netcast: Recruitment Challenges and Solutions

Join the FireRECRUITER live via the Internet on Wednesday-March 10, 2010 at 8pm ET at FirefighterNetcast.com for a conversation discussing the challenges of today’s fire service in recruiting and retaining volunteers.

Click www.tigerschmittendorf.com for all the details.

Score One for Run-to-the-Curb type Kids: Opening Doors

As reported by Fire-Rescue Magazine on FirefighterNation.com, the International Association of Fire Chiefs Volunteer and Combination Officers Section has released their Silver Ribbon Report titled: “Opening New Doors: Guidelines and Best Practices for a Successful Youth Fire Service Program.”

While I haven’t had the chance to read the entire 52-page report cover-to-cover, I can tell you that it’s comprehensive in scope and a well organized resource for anyone involved in creating or maintaining a fire department sponsored youth program. It holds something for everyone including chief officers, youth leaders, fire department administration, parents, support liaisons and the youth themselves.