Retention and Recruitment for the Volunteer Emergency Services

Retention & Recruitment for the Volunteer Emergency Services: Challenges & Solutions
urban, suburban, and industrial areas in particular. Fire departments in areas affected by
the standards cannot conduct the realistic training burns that they once did. To complete
training courses, firefighters in these areas may be forced to travel great distances to areas
where they can conduct live-fire burns. This creates greater time demands on volunteers
who are trying to complete live-fire training.
internal conflict
Internal conflicts and other stresses drive members out of fire departments. The two
greatest problems with internal conflict in the volunteer fire service originate among
leaders or between volunteer and career members in combination departments.
disagreements among departmental leaders--When disagreements among departmental
leaders (either officers or administrative officers) develop, the membership may become
disillusioned. When the disagreement becomes personal or is not resolved quickly, the
resulting tension drives members out. Unfortunately in many departments, power politics
arise. Generally, the major concern is who will be the “boss,” and make major decisions.
Egos get in the way of the purpose of the organization and providing the best emergency
services for the community. More will be written about this later.
friction among Volunteer and career members--A major source of recruitment and
retention problems in some combination volunteer-career departments is friction among
members. The friction often arises from disagreements about the way things should be run,
or power struggles over whether a volunteer or career member/officer will be in charge
at an emergency incident. Sometimes, one group may have more training than another
group and claim it is more experienced. It is vital that the training levels for both career
and volunteer members be the same. The State of Illinois is a good example of a single
training program. In fact, some volunteers may even make more responses; therefore, gain
more experience than a shift-working career member. Good examples of where these
problems have been overcome and smooth working combination departments exist are
the Baltimore County, Maryland, Fire Department and the Hanover County, Virginia, Public
Safety Department. In Baltimore County this is accomplished by a unique system of having
a single fire department, but allowing the individual volunteer stations to maintain their
identity, and organizational and administrative authority. However, all career and volunteer
stations must meet the same standards of staffing, training, and operational procedures. A
career chief officer assumes control of incident operations upon arrival.