The Struggle of Volunteer Departments

Dear Nozzlehead,

I am writing you out of extreme frustration as several us have resigned from our volunteer fire department. Our chief, who has been here for 40 years, refuses to make changes. We have numerous violations of our bylaws, and we don’t provide what is needed for our community.

We have resigned because of some of these concerns:

• We haven’t had a budget in five years.
• We haven’t had elections in five years.
• Our chief has no certifications.
• Anyone can drive our apparatus with no training required other than the chief saying OK.
• We have no background checks for new members, and some are known convicted felons.
• Members routinely break laws while functioning as firefighters.
• We do not have any training on or use incident command or the national incident management system.
• Members respond on apparatus and use equipment they haven’t trained on.
• Personal protective equipment is not routinely used.
• The chief routinely holds apparatus in quarters until he arrives to determine what’s needed.

Is this a normal volunteer fire department? We can no longer work at this fire department and for this chief so we have resigned. What can or should we do? We have brought this to our board and our county association.

-Not So Sweet Home in Alabama

Dear Sweety,

I was actually on the phone with Kanye (he called me for some advice again, but he never listens) when I received your e-mail. When I read it, he indicated a definite interest in your department being turned into a reality show. I will have my people call your people … if any of your people are left.

Your e-mail made me sad, seriously, as I watch many volunteer fire departments all over the country failing. I didn’t say all, but many are. It’s one of the of the worst kept secrets-and most ignored problems-in North America. To be clear, I am a time-proven advocate of successful volunteer fire services, but the fact is that with people’s time these days they barely have time for their families-not to mention volunteering. In addition to time being a factor, it’s also how we TREAT people when they join.

Are there successful volunteer organizations in 2017? Certainly. But so many give their public an impression that fire trucks will come roaring out of the fire station when they call, and that is hardly the case. Need some proof? Turn on a fire radio or scanner in any area protected by volunteers and listen to how many times the tones go off and go off and go off for a fire or emergency medical services (EMS) call. Please prove me wrong.

One of the reasons for failure is that so many volunteer agencies haven’t kept up with the needs, growth, and changes of their community and society. You cannot have a 1960s model volunteer fire department and expect it to work in 2017. Trust me. Like most, your volunteer department must evolve, and that means different things for different agencies.

Some of the most successful volunteer departments are ones that are disciplined and policy and customer/community need driven while understanding that a very critical “customer group” is the volunteer members themselves. Unfortunately, one manageable factor in members leaving volunteer departments is the failure of leadership to apply discipline fairly and equally to all.

So that you clearly understand me, I am not saying that the members will or should get everything they want. But what I am saying is the overall membership needs, fairness, training, leadership, and treatment are the life blood of the volunteer fire department (VFD). One of the biggest reasons members leave a VFD is often the action, lack of action, and subjective treatment of and by other members and leaders themselves.

Cliques? Bullying? Unfair treatment? No policies? Unfair application of the policies? Whatever it is, without an “all in for all” attitude, watch carefully as your organization fades away.

So now let’s look at your department. Er, well it actually sounds like we did. But let’s focus specifically on your issues.

• Budget: A volunteer department must have a budget. Be it tax money or donations, the fact is that you have solicited funds in exchange for some level of service.
• Elections: Not sure elections are the way to select leaders, but they may be. The issue isn’t how you select them as much as what their qualifications are. While experience is critical in leadership, initial and ongoing training to meet the modern needs of an area being protected is equally important.
• The Chief: The best leaders have a mix of training, education, and experience. Your chief certainly has experience, but it may be that he has been doing things wrong for so long that, at least to him, it seems right. The more we (all of us) do things wrong, the more they can “seem” right. So how is that fixed? Through training, at all levels of a fire department, which includes outside training to determine what current best practices are, exploring them, and then applying them as applicable. And that training requires an open mind to change.
• Response: For example (related to the above comments about open minded change), having apparatus not respond until the chief gets to a scene to determine the need? In my world, when the caller says something is on fire, we actually believe him. And because we believe him, we send a response that mirrors what we would want if our homes were on fire. Simple stuff.
• Driving: While I am not familiar with the law in your state, some states simply state that the chief determines who drives. Period. So, while that may be the law, that also means a chief (or a board) can absolutely require quality, applicable, relevant, and best practices fire apparatus driver training. Anything less is morally wrong and very well may be criminal.
• Background Check: In 2017, any department that is not doing thorough background checks is asking for trouble. I don’t care “how badly” a department needs members, you need members without criminal backgrounds because the public is trusting you with their stuff-their families and their kids. The last thing you is someone with a noted illegal past performing predictably at a scene. What’s a background check? A good rule of thumb would be to consider whatever your state police require their personnel to go through: a real background check. Who do you want in your home? In your station? Around your family? Now apply that to the public who allegedly trusts us.
• Incident Command: It works and it’s proven to work. The fact that your chief refuses to train your members on it or use it sadly proves it’s probably time for change.
• Driver Training: Ever flown in a plane? Want someone who is qualified to pilot or would you prefer letting an airplane buff give it a shot? Ever ridden in a bus? Want a professional driver or a teen who is in driver’s ed but rides buses to school? Ever had a medical emergency? Want a doctor or someone with an expired CPR card who has been on many EMS calls? Ever needs surgery? Want a surgeon or the guy who cleans the operating room but has watched many surgeries? Fire apparatus driver? Let’s do this. Send your (or the chief’s) family members driving around in your community and suddenly there is a fire call. Who do you (and he) honestly want driving the 30-foot-long, thousands of pounds fire apparatus with your kids, grandkids, spouse, or loved ones in “that” intersection? Duh.

Every profession requires training and certification to perform a risky task. So, what happened to us (in the volunteer fire service) along the way? We do things wrong (or outdated) for so long that it can seem right. When training is delivered simply and easily (to meet the scheduling needs of volunteers), the end result is predictably a qualified and smarter department.

Your volunteer department is not necessarily typical; however, and so sadly, it isn’t all that rare. There are many departments suffering from this kind of internal strife focused on personalities vs. what the community is entitled to, pays for, and expects. One of the biggest retention issues facing volunteer departments is the internal BS within that VFD. People are driven away. Again, prove me wrong.

RESIGNING? Let me make this real clear: You and the other members who have resigned have done nothing to better the community and are focused just on yourselves. Since I am not familiar with both sides of this issue, walking out vs. staying in and working to make change (as tough as that may be) also requires risk and courage, a kind of courage that can sometimes be tougher than crawling down a hall because you are dealing with your members-family and friends-and that brings in heartfelt emotions, both good and bad. Leading a close-knit community volunteer fire department (filled with friends and relatives) is extremely challenging and requires policy that consistently and fairly drives behaviors, training, and actions. When I hear of members resigning, I always make sure to look to determine what they joined for vs. what they are trying to get out of being a member. When numerous members resign, it’s time for rapid intervention.

Clearly, the chief and your board’s leadership own much of this, but make sure that you and the others are also doing all that’s possible to meet the needs of the community you joined to serve. Walking out doesn’t fix the problem; get back in and work on fixing it. Maybe even send your chief and board to the Fire Department Instructors Conference International this Spring; they’ll either be recharged and invigorated or they’ll need counseling.

Note: Need help in leading or problem solving within your volunteer fire department? Reach out to the National Volunteer Fire Council (www.nvfc.org) and the Volunteer Officers and Combination Section of the IAFC (www.vcos.org); both organizations have numerous resources to help get your department on the right path in 2017 and beyond.