“What if nobody responds to the call?”

   What is the publics expectation when they call 911? Are their needs being fulfilled or exceeded? I often think back on when I joined the fire department over 25 years ago. You had to wait for an opening to join the fire department. Our rosters were full. People worked in the community and were available nearly all the time. Times have changed! If your department isn’t experiencing challenges of staffing, count your blessings. Most departments are dealing with these challenges! This leaves us with a difficult reality that we may not be able to provide a full response when called! Worse yet, “what if nobody responds?” The public doesn’t understand the critical tipping point that exists. It is difficult to balance personal life and being a volunteer. Our employers assume somebody else can do it. Many are willing to show up “some of the time”. They are willing to take “some of the classes”. This leaves us with fewer firefighters that are fully capable to meet the needs of our calls. 

   All right, enough with the gloom and doom. Let’s now focus on solutions. 

   We can’t sit back and let this happen without doing something. We need to find good volunteers. The best way to do this is to encourage your members to invite a friend to join. If everybody on your department did this you could double your size. Look to local clubs and organizations for assistance. Asking people that already have a “volunteer” mentality is a great. Focusing on people that have needed your help has produced some great members for us. Focus on groups that are underrepresented in your department now. By this, I mean men or women, or other cultural/racial groups within your community. Develop a committee that is willing to identify and reach out to these groups. I have written before, if your department doesn’t have the same balance of representation of your community you may be unaware of some type of barrier you have in place to them.

Training Objectives

   Upon completion, the department should be able to….

   • Determine if you have staffing issues.

   • Identify when these issues may need to be addressed.

   • Identify potential groups for recruiting membership.

   • Discuss strategies to recruit membership.

   Scott Meinecke is a member of the Sheldon Volunteer Fire Department, Director of Safety for the Iowa Association of Electric Cooperatives, and field staff for the Fire Service Training Bureau. He can be contacted by email at smeinecke@iowarec.org