By Lynn Morgan
We look back to 40 years ago and there were several people who would volunteer their time to the fire department to help the community. Where has that gone? Are we not recruiting students in high school or college? Are we not promoting the fire departments that we belong to? Are we treating them badly when they do join the department? Those are the things that we need to figure out.
Most of the firefighters in this era are usually generation firefighters who grew up in it. They spent time watching their parents do the task and thought that when they grow up that’s what they want to do. I know because that is what I did. My father was a firefighter for 27 years and my uncle was one for 30 years. But back in that era, you could hang around the firehouse and help roll hose or another small task.
There is an issue that everyone seems to encounter now, that it’s getting harder and harder to find people who want to dedicate their time. I get it that we are busier today. People want to have more family time. But when are we going to get to where the volunteer departments are closing their doors due to the lack of volunteers? In Missouri, roughly 80% of departments are volunteers.
Recruiting high school and college students
There are many high school programs that teach Firefighter I and II. In Missouri, students can’t be certified until they turn 18, but they can take all the skills and the written exams. The colleges are either doing an associate degree in fire science or just offering Firefighter I and II plus the hazmat classes you need for certification. Then you can enroll in the Emergency Medical Technician class. These are the certifications that you need for most career departments. But the biggest problem I see is the marketing part of it. We need to start attending the career fairs in the school districts and promote the fire service. We are lacking in doing things like this. Look at the tech schools: They are explaining to the schools that students could attend for a short time and come out pretty much with a job. We need to join in with these folks and promote the fantastic job in the fire service.
Recruitment and retention
Some big questions come up in every department. How do we get the word out that we need firefighters? Remember, in this generation, you must look at all cultures. Then the next question is, how do we keep them? We are in the social media world now. We need to use the things that most of us are not familiar with. There are sites such as Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram. There are several departments that are doing public service announcements that they are hiring or needing volunteers on these sites. I have seen departments using billboards for recruitment. There are volunteer departments offering training classes to see if someone is interested in joining a department. We must start thinking out of the box because the younger generation is not reading the paper; they are on the social media sites at any given time.
We then have the issues once we get them to be a part of us of how we keep them. This can be really tough due to the lack of emergency incidents for them to respond to. Some departments make fewer than 500 calls a year. We expect them to train on a regular basis and then they might never be available to make a call due to their work schedule. The volunteer side of things can be a bigger issue with retention than the career side. But the career side has its problems also. Volunteers spend time training and learning the trucks. Make sure you make the training times where everyone can attend. So, you might have to have two sessions night and day to accommodate the different work schedules. They can spend a lot of time away from their families. They are depended on because there might only be up to five people or fewer responding to the call. Most of the time they are doing this for nothing. There are some departments that will give a stipend at the end of the year, but this doesn’t cover the cost that you have put into it.
On the career side, you can sometimes have a lot of movement between departments. Firefighters are always looking for a department that might have a larger call volume. Maybe they are searching for better pay and benefits. There are some departments that have different requirements than others such as Emergency Medical Technician certification, HazMat technician, Paramedic, any kind of tech-rescue certifications. There are different shift schedules like 24 on/48 off, 48 on/96 off, and 24 on/72 off. So, this could be a factor in the retention of staff. We need to start looking at our own department data. When a firefighter leaves, listen to his exit interview and take notes. The things that he is telling you could be correctable issues for anyone else leaving.
The way they are treated as rookies
I have been to several departments in my 36 years in the fire service. I have noticed different cultures and the way the senior staff treats the rookies. There are places that have rules about where you can sit and where you can eat. I think every department has specific chores that all new people are assigned. Most of the new staff in the places I have been are assigned to sweeping, moping, bathrooms, and trash. Now this again could vary from each department, and it could also depend on your officer. There are some departments that make the recruit cook all the meals and maybe they have never cooked a day in their life. We need to spend some time helping them learn how to cook. Treat them as you would want to be treated.
When they are assigned to a crew can also be an eye opener. This is when you see if they have the personality that the others have and whether they fit in. I have seen some recruits not make it just because they don’t have the same attitude that the rest of the crew has. This is not a bad thing for the recruits because this might be the first fire department they have worked for. Things are totally different going from volunteer to career. You basically have a second family. I think we have all been there and know how it felt. Most of the new recruits that you are hiring are Millennials, and they are a generation who watches YouTube videos and that’s how they learn things. This is when you may have to incorporate that in a training session and then take them outside and perform the skills that went along with the video.
Training new recruits
We must be on our game when training new recruits. As the training chief, captain, or just one of the instructors, you really must manage the training and not let your senior firefighters do things that set the recruits up for failure. I have seen senior firefighters make search and rescue mazes that there was no way out and the recruits get frustrated and give up. This is probably one of the training courses that should be taken seriously because we want to know if they can wear a self-contained breathing apparatus. We need to know if they are claustrophobic or have trouble putting it on. The door prop is another example—I have seen senior firefighters put a piece of rebar in there and recruits are never going to get the door forced open. This either makes the recruits mad or they think they have failed and are ready to quit because they think the job isn’t for them. We need to have the attitude that we want them to succeed and be the best firefighters in the department.
We need to think about how hard it is to get people to apply and now we are making them fail in their skills. Most of your applicants are either fresh out of high school or college. Some come from an academy, and that can be good or bad. They could have picked up some bad habits along the way. But you must remember that you can always train them in how your department functions.
Recruits are getting harder to come by
After 9/11, everyone wanted to be a firefighter. Now the numbers are going down in some areas. They start the job thinking it’s the best job to have. Then they realize that it’s dangerous and can be mentally and physically demanding. Throughout their time being a volunteer or career firefighter, it can lead to depression, PTSD, anxiety, and sleep disorders.
Here are three ways to increase retention:
• Have an open line of communication. There is a saying that people don’t leave companies, they leave managers. It’s like that in the fire service also. You need good leaders who will listen and have conversations with you.
• Remember to do training where they want to engage; make it relevant to your training needs. Customize it to your department. Mix it up and do some lecture and then do hands on.
• Provide mentors if they are struggling with certain skills. Show them that they are appreciated; do not always bring up their bad sides.
Remember, word of mouth can be the best reference for someone to consider joining your department, but it can be the deciding factor and turn interested people away also. Make sure that you are following your mission and vision statements that are supporting your department. If they see that you believe in them, they are going to consider being a part of your department.
I remember when I was 18 and wanted to be a part of the fire service. There were senior firefighters who did things to me just to test me to see if I could overcome the pressures. Then I had some of the best mentors in the fire service who took me under their wing and showed me the dos and don’ts. I will always be grateful for their experience. You want to be that mentor they look up to. We will always need new firefighters to take our place as we get to our retirement age, so let’s try to keep the tradition going and find ways to make the firefighters not a dying breed.
Bio:
Lynn Morgan, FO, is a 36-year-veteran of the fire service and a captain with the Republic (MO) Fire Department. He is an adjunct instructor with the Missouri University Fire and Rescue Training Institute and a member of the advisory committee for the fire science program at Ozark Technical College and on the board of directors for the Southwest Regional Training Academy.
Photo by form PxHere
