By Allie Kuntz
“We do not develop firefighters, officers, and community leaders by waiting for them to be ready. We develop them by investing in them before they are.”
“I don’t feel ready for this,” I remember thinking as our engine responded to a head-on collision on a cold winter morning. At 19 years old, I was serving as the acting officer and sitting in the front right seat of a fire engine with a crew of four other college students.
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The incident was near the station, and our command officer was over 20 minutes away. I knew that when we got on scene, I wouldn’t just be responsible for my crew; I would be responsible for managing the entire incident.
As we drove, dispatch advised us that several people were injured. I thought about what I’d do when we arrived. I had practiced this exact scenario in training and had watched experienced officers manage similar scenes. Yet none of that completely removed the uncertainty I felt. When we arrived, there was no perfect plan waiting for me. There was only the responsibility — and the expectation that I would step into it.
Later that day, after the call was over and we were back at the station, I realized something important: You don’t become ready and then step up. You step up, and that’s how you become ready.
Looking back, that lesson shaped my understanding of leadership more than any book ever could. Ironically, I was learning the same lesson in two different places at the same time — inside a business school classroom and inside a volunteer fire station.
Two-way learning
When I arrived at Montana State University in Bozeman, I was looking for a community. I had just moved to a new town and wanted to find people who shared similar interests and values. That search led me to the Hyalite Fire Department, where I became involved as a volunteer and resident firefighter, meaning I lived at the fire station. It wasn’t just the place from which we responded to calls; it was my home and my second classroom.
Some early fire life lessons came from emergency calls. Others came from training drills, late-night conversations around the kitchen table, and simply observing experienced firefighters and officers interact. Living alongside people committed to serving their community created an environment where leadership lessons occurred every day, often without anyone realizing it.
At the same time, I was studying business management. In class, we discussed leadership development, organizational culture, team dynamics, communication and how successful organizations invest in their people.
What made the experience unique was that the learning flowed in both directions.
Business school gave me a framework for understanding leadership and organizations. The fire service gave me an opportunity to test those ideas in the real world.
I could spend an afternoon discussing organizational culture in a classroom and then spend the evening watching that culture influence everything from training expectations to how members supported one another after a difficult call. Likewise, experiences from the fire station often made classroom discussions more meaningful because I had already seen those concepts at work. When we discussed leadership, I wasn’t picturing a hypothetical case study; I was thinking about people I knew and respected. The two environments continually reinforced one another, creating an education that neither could have provided on its own.
Shortly after completing my Fire Officer 1 training, I was sitting in a college human resources class where we discussed the importance of setting clear expectations for employees. As I shared some of the approaches I had learned in my fire officer training, the teacher stopped and asked, “Where did you learn that? It’s not in our textbook.”
The experience involved far more than simply balancing school and the fire station. There were weekends spent training all day, only to be woken up for a call after midnight that could be anything from a lift assist to a working structure fire. Regardless of what happened the night before, I was expected to be back in the classroom at 8 a.m. the next morning. The schedule was unpredictable, but the expectation remained the same: Show up, stay engaged and continue learning.
The recruitment and retention impact
The reason I was sitting in the officer seat that morning wasn’t because I had all the answers or felt completely prepared. It was because leaders before me had invested in my development. They provided opportunities to learn. They trusted me with responsibility. They allowed me to make mistakes and learn from them. Most importantly, they created an environment where growth was expected.
I believe this is one of the most important lessons for volunteer and combination fire departments today. Many conversations about the future of volunteerism focus on recruitment. Recruitment is important, but retention often depends on something deeper. People stay where they feel connected and valued, and where they believe they are growing.
Volunteerism is not automatically passed from one generation to the next. The ethic of volunteer service must be intentionally taught through mentorship, culture and responsibility. Very few people walk into the fire service already understanding commitment, sacrifice and service before self. Those values are developed over time. They are learned through experience and reinforced by leaders who take the time to invest in others.
Empowering firefighters with early responsibilities not only fosters leadership skills but also addresses a critical issue: retention. Departments that trust and value their members create an environment where firefighters feel a sense of belonging. This investment in their growth can transform casual involvement into deep-rooted commitment. For college-aged firefighters, the opportunity to take on meaningful roles can be the key factor that keeps them engaged and dedicated to their department.
Departments that invest in people create future officers, future mentors and future leaders. This reinforces something I believe many departments understand intuitively but do not always articulate clearly: People stay committed to organizations that invest in them.
Invest in your people
Since graduating from Montana State University, I have worked as a captain/paramedic in the same department I joined as a volunteer firefighter during my freshman year.
That progression reflects the impact of leaders who chose to develop others, create opportunities for growth, and place trust in people before confidence had fully caught up with capability.
The future of volunteerism depends on leaders who are willing to do the same. We do not develop firefighters, officers and community leaders by waiting for them to be ready. We develop them by investing in them before they are.
The lesson I learned sitting in the officer seat that winter morning holds true: Readiness is often the result of responsibility, not the prerequisite for it by.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Allie Kuntz is a captain/paramedic with the Hyalite Fire Department in Bozeman, Montana. She holds a bachelor’s degree in business management from Montana State University and an associate of applied science in paramedicine from Flathead Valley Community College. Kuntz holds National Registry and Montana Paramedic certifications and is certified as Firefighter I and II, Fire Instructor I and Wildland FFT1.
