Departments build training programs, set standards and decide what opportunities they can support. But firefighters also make their own decisions about where and how they develop. They seek out classes, instructors, certifications and experiences that fill gaps, sharpen skills or prepare them for what comes next.
That creates an important question for fire service leaders: Are we shaping that development, or are we simply reacting to it?
FireRescue1’s newest What Firefighters Want survey responses spotlight an important point about fire department training: Our workforce is hungry to learn but often forced to look beyond their own organization for opportunity. That’s not an attack on our internal training divisions or battalions. It’s not a complaint about every chief or every company officer. It’s a sign of the times: Departments simply cannot provide every training and development opportunity their members need.
Firefighters are investing in themselves
The survey data makes clear that firefighters still want to improve. Over the past five years, 74% of respondents attended regional training, 44% attended a state fire academy, 40% attended vendor or manufacturer training, and 21% attended the National Fire Academy. Only 9% said they had not attended any outside training.
Additionally, 65% reported that they earned at least three certifications in the past five years.
Just as important, the top reported motivations for self-directed training were wanting to improve skills (81%) and personal interest (75%), both of which were far stronger than certification requirements (24%) and internal encouragement (17%).
But really, those facts should encourage all of us in leadership. This is not a lazy workforce looking for shortcuts. This is a workforce still willing to invest in itself. Firefighters at all levels are still chasing improvement. They are still looking for reps, knowledge and confidence. They still want to be better at the job.
But there is a harder truth inside those numbers. They are not just going outside because they want variety. Many are going outside because they believe that is where the opportunity is.
Training barriers
The survey also tells us what is getting in the way of training. The most common barriers to training were scheduling conflicts or lack of time at 60%, staffing or call coverage at 45%, personal or family commitments at 37%, limited facilities or props at 33% and lack of funding or reimbursement at 33%. Anyone leading a fire department recognizes those pressures immediately. That is the same math that us chiefs wrestle with every budget cycle and every day with staffing.
The free-text responses about outside training sharpened this point even further. Firefighters said they need funding, reimbursement, paid time, staffing coverage, better scheduling, shorter travel distances and stronger support from leadership. Some of the comments were brutally plain: “Funding.” “Pay me for my time.” “Time off to go to external training.” “The ability to backfill personnel to attend training.” One response said, “Our leadership doesn’t encourage external training.”
This is all brutally honest feedback, and if we remember when we were in those same positions or at that time in our career, I can remember saying the exact same thing.
We should be reading those comments carefully because they expose the tension many departments are living with. We say training matters, and I believe most leaders mean that. But the system surrounding training is often overloaded before anyone even shows up for work. The same organization trying to deliver quality instruction is also trying to meet mandated requirements, manage shortages, cover overtime, maintain response performance, reduce burnout and keep the workforce engaged. In that environment, training becomes a competition for time and space rather than the foundation of readiness we all claim it is. That tension shows up elsewhere in the survey, too.
Are we measuring training or managing activity?
Many respondents said their departments do a decent job of treating training as important. But when the questions get more specific, the picture gets less reassuring. More than 20% said there is no consistent evaluation method for performance during training. Another 43% said performance is mainly evaluated through informal observation and feedback.
Additionally, 81% of respondents said instructors provide clear feedback and stay current, while 57% said their organizations evaluate whether training actually improves operational performance rather than just marking completion. That is a significant leadership issue, and I would bet most of us still struggle with real evaluations. If we are not evaluating whether training changes performance qualitatively and quantitatively, then we are not really managing a training system. We are managing activity — and those are not the same thing.
The comments about improving instructional quality really drive that point home. The respondents said they want qualified instructors, dedicated training officers, more hands-on, realistic training, greater consistency across shifts, better planning and improved training facilities. Bottom line: They are calling for a more contemporary, professional training system — and outside training often fills the gaps.
Outside training can expose internal gaps
Firefighters go elsewhere for stronger or new instructors. They go elsewhere for more different tactics and perspectives. They go elsewhere for realistic technology-driven scenarios, specialized knowledge and focused reps. And to be fair, some of that is completely appropriate. No single department, especially in today’s environment, can replicate every regional academy, every state program, every National Fire Academy offering or every specialized vendor course. Outside training has always had value because it exposes people to broader thinking, different instructors and fresh ideas. The problem is not that firefighters are seeking outside development. The problem is when outside development starts to function as a workaround for what the internal system cannot reliably provide. And this is where the chiefs need to pay attention.
If your people are consistently going elsewhere for command development, instructor growth, technical rescue depth, fire behavior education or realistic scenario work, they are pointing to where your system feels thin. That should not offend leadership; it should inform leadership.
Resource pressure
None of this means that every training request should be approved automatically or every certification should be celebrated equally. Chiefs still have to make judgment calls. Money is finite. Time is finite. Coverage is finite. Some departments are struggling just to maintain baseline competency, let alone fund broad external development. We are managing competing obligations, many of them unfunded, while still being expected to improve outcomes and hold the line on service delivery.
Resource pressure is exactly why the issue must be managed strategically. Departments should be clearer about what kinds of outside training align with organizational needs. If the agency needs better officer development, stronger instructor depth, safer special operations performance or more realistic company-level decision-making, then outside training should be prioritized around those needs. Chiefs should also look hard at the points of friction they can control. Approval processes, reimbursement practices, scheduling flexibility, travel support, and backfill decisions all send a message about whether growth is truly valued or just talked about.
Just as important, departments should get a greater return on every external opportunity they fund. If a firefighter attends a good outside program, the organization should not let that knowledge die in a notebook or certificate file. Bring it back. Teach a drill. Run a tabletop. Build department-wide training. Share one change worth making. Multiply the investment. That has to be part of the agreement for anything outside of the agency — it’s an investment.
Harness the drive to improve
There is also a cultural piece here that we can’t ignore. A firefighter willing to use personal time, personal energy and sometimes personal money to improve is usually not the employee we should be worried about. That is often one of the people carrying the profession forward. The real question is whether the department knows how to harness that energy without exploiting it. Again, here is another intersection where leadership matters most.
The What Firefighters Want data does not show a workforce asking for less. It shows a workforce trying to become more in a system that is stretched, crowded and frequently under-resourced. Firefighters are attending regional schools, state academies, vendor programs and national offerings in large numbers. They are stacking certifications and building their knowledge base and competencies. They are pursuing self-directed development because they still care about getting better. And they are doing it while confronting the same barriers chiefs know well: time, staffing, money, distance, fatigue and inconsistent support.
Chiefs should not treat that as a threat; they should treat it as a signal. If firefighters are finding training somewhere else, the question is not how to stop them. The question is what their effort is telling us about our own systems, our own priorities and the future of workforce development in the fire service. That is the conversation worth having.
