Recruitment and Retention
Recruitment and retention is one of the most critical topics in the fire service, particularly the volunteer fire service, which has long been seeking to attract and maintain members. The recruitment and retention resource page provides critical content to help fire departments manage their personnel, from articles that inform prospective members are life as a volunteer to podcasts about recruitment best practices to new techniques being used to encourage new members, and so much more.
Interim Sebastopol Fire Chief Jack Piccinini wrote to city officials, politicians and the media about the challenges in the department
Firefighters pinpoint their top stressors and acknowledge the impact of stress on the quality of service provided
Survey respondents share their experiences with staffing stressors
Effective recruitment will look different for each agency, but the basics are the same and critical to get right
Firefighters feel generally positive about the job, but they report high stress, and many have considered leaving their organization
Faced with shrinking volunteer numbers, Pa. fire departments embrace new strategies to bolster ranks
Since 2000, the number of volunteer firefighters in Pennsylvania has dropped from 60,000 to 38,000
The East Peoria Fire Department has joined others in dropping a pre-hire EMS certification requirement
The St. Joseph Fire Department is working with high schools and a new college campus to present a career in fire, EMS
82% of U.S. fire departments are all or mostly volunteer and, often, their funding depends on people stepping up to help
Tipp City officials highlighted staffing and response time improvements in a budget review
The Montville firefighters union president says data on staffing, overtime, mutual aid requests can show the need to hire more firefighters
Bloomington’s new policy removes the paramedic licensing requirement to help increase the applicant pool
Carroll County’s new combination department is continuing to grow and is on track to have career staff at seven remaining fire stations
The Snyder Fire Department set a goal, formed a team, and made a plan to significantly increase its membership in two years
Chester County commissioners approved a property tax rebate for members of fire and EMS departments
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