By Jason J. Zigmont
Managing a volunteer organization has changed dramatically over the past 10 to 15 years, mostly due to new federal regulations and legislation.
Historically, the volunteer service has reacted, usually negatively, to these changes after they have already been put in place.
Now is the time to be proactive, like the National Volunteer Fire Council, which continues to take a leading role in protecting and promoting the volunteer fire service. It recently announced that the NVFC-backed Volunteer Job Protection Act had passed through the U.S. House of Representatives.
On May 9, the House passed the Volunteer Firefighter and EMS Personnel Job Protection Act as part of H.R. 1684, the Department of Homeland Security Authorization Act. This act provides job protection for volunteer emergency services personnel responding to a Presidentially-declared disaster for up to 14 days per calendar year.
This is only one step toward securing the volunteer public safety force that is essential in the first 48 to 96 hours of a major disaster until federal resources can be mobilized. As was evidenced in Hurricane Katrina, it is often the volunteers that have to handle the immediate response to a national disaster, but their response may put their jobs at risk.
This act would protect the jobs of emergency responders acting in an official capacity, such as through a mutual aid or disaster plan, but not those who are freelancing or "self-responders."
Bigger challenge
The challenge is that this bill still has to pass through the Senate and receive the president's signature before it can become law. The bigger challenge is that we are not all involved in getting laws like this passed, and at least supporting the NVFC.
We always ask our volunteers to get involved in their organization, but the NVFC is our organization, and we do not always do our part. This is our chance to make sure that we stay involved and informed in the future of the volunteer service as we know it.
Part of being a professional volunteer is being involved in your profession as a whole rather than just your local department. This includes professional organizations such as the IAFC's Volunteer and Combined Officers Section (VCOS) and legislative lobbying groups such as NVFC and Advocates for EMS.
The fire service has slowly moved from a purely reactionary organization to one that stresses fire prevention. But this move from reaction to prevention has not continued through to our legislative efforts.
Instead of complaining about what the government has decided, it is time we all get involved and back bills like the Volunteer Firefighter and EMS Personnel Job Protection Act.
While we may not all have the time to visit our legislators on "the hill," we can all show our solidarity and join the legislative effort through our membership to professional organizations. We can also make phone calls, mail our senators and representatives and make sure that we are heard. We can also tune to resources like VolunteerFD.org and FireRescue1.com to stay informed.
Together we can protect our brotherhood and become true volunteer professionals.
