By Chief Joe Maruca
Volunteerism in the fire service is declining, and many departments are struggling to recruit and retain members. But what are the biggest barriers — and how do we overcome them?
According to the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC)’s national study, “Volunteer Firefighter Recruitment and Retention Research Report,” released in May 2026, the top obstacle keeping young people from joining a volunteer fire department is the rigid training and duty schedule. Compounding the problem, many departments don’t clearly outline the schedule or set accurate expectations, which makes it harder to keep the people they’ve already recruited.
| READ MORE: Why good firefighters stay — and what finally pushes them out
Let’s take a closer look at the survey findings and explore practical solutions your department can put to work.
Survey findings: Good and bad news
The study surveyed 1,249 non-firefighters in the general population aged 18 and older as well as 1,214 current and former volunteers. Both surveys were followed with in-depth focus groups to explore the results further.
The good news: People do want to volunteer. Within the general population group, 15% of the respondents said they were “very interested” in volunteering, and another 39% were “somewhat interested.” We just aren’t reaching them. Specifically, 65% of respondents had no idea whether there was an opportunity to join a volunteer fire or EMS department in their community. Bottom line: We need to better communicate about the opportunities available to potential members.
Time commitment constraints
Once we do reach out and attract new members, we need to close the sale and retain them. This requires us to take a flexible approach to our schedules and to be upfront about the time commitment.
Among general population respondents, 36% said the rigid schedule at the fire department kept them from joining a volunteer fire department, and 30% said not knowing the time requirements discouraged them.
I am a retired fire chief, and when my department recruited volunteers, we invited the applicants to an informational meeting at the fire station. We made it very clear how much training was required to get started, and how much training was expected for as long as they stayed with us. We passed out the tentative training schedule they would follow. We showed them our annual training schedule for incumbent members, and we had multiple incumbent volunteers share their schedules and the time commitment.
We also laid out our duty schedule system. We explained why we had a duty schedule and how well it worked. We made it as simple as possible to understand the time commitment.
Of course, in explaining the time and scheduling commitments, we weren’t trying to scare anyone off. We learned that we had to be honest and clear about what was expected. However, we also made clear that we had flexibility in our systems because we understood the need to adjust to their needs.
Yes, some people left our informational meeting and dropped out of the process. But I believe we would have lost these people quickly if we had brought them on without their understanding the time commitment and schedule. And, among those who stayed and joined us, most completed training and didn’t drop out.
Four ways to address the time issue
Knowing the obstacles, I recommend volunteer fire and EMS departments follow these four steps to address the time commitment issues.
1. Detail the training schedule: Include a training schedule that shows new members what training they will be expected to complete and how that training is scheduled, where it takes place, who provides the training, who pays for it and what flexibility is available for completing it. Spell out any deadlines. Do the same for continuing training once the new firefighter or EMT is serving as a regular member of the department.
2. Create different levels of participation: Instead of requiring everyone to be a firefighter/EMT before they can start responding to emergency calls, consider having progressive levels that allow members to start participating in steps. For instance, if someone completes the emergency medical responder (“first responder” in some states) training, they are able to respond to medical calls or provide EMS at fire incidents. Completion of certain training means that a volunteer can be classified as a “support firefighter” and can respond to incidents to provide air supply duties, work on water supply or be the chief’s aide. If someone completes S-190/S-130 wildland fire training, let them start responding to wildfires. The key is determining what training is relevant to the levels you create.
Allowing people to participate in phases gets them into the action sooner. The sooner people can participate, the more likely they will finish their training, and the more likely they will stay with the department. The longer initial training drags on and the volunteer is held back from participating, the more likely they will fade away quickly.
And with each of your different steps, I suggest you make it OK for volunteers to remain at that step for a while or even permanently. In my experience, some people will simply be more comfortable staying a support member, or an EMS provider, instead of advancing to a fully qualified firefighter. This can work well as it provides well-trained and motivated volunteers to handle exterior and auxiliary services at an incident, freeing up the firefighters for direct fire operations. I have found that over time, many of these members will advance at their own pace, and they are a good investment.
3. Set up a simple mentor program: I’m not suggesting a complex administrative program. Simplicity can be effective here, especially in small departments. What I mean by a mentor program is having members of the department who will observe new members at drills and incidents, informally chat with them about their experiences, answer their questions, let them know they are doing well and are appreciated, and simply make sure the new member feels like they are part of the team and is having a good experience.
Mentors should also be responsible for checking in with new members, particularly if they aren’t seeing them participate as much as expected. All too often, new members fade away, and by the time anyone notices or reaches out, it’s too late.
Mentors don’t have to be officers or senior members. Those who joined the department a year or two ago can be excellent mentors because their experience joining the department is more current than that of us “old guys.”
4. Build in flexibility and support for families: Remember that new volunteers are also balancing the demands of the volunteer fire and EMS service with the needs of their families and the demands of their primary employers. Be flexible — make sure your training program is modular so that it can be taught in various orders by multiple instructors, is relevant to what the firefighter is expected to do and the tools they’ll use, and is locally taught as much as possible. Provide flexible times and create opportunities.
Also make sure that recruits know what resources and programs are available to family members and employers of volunteer firefighters. The better-informed families and employers are, the more supportive they are likely to be. For instance, the NVFC offers the resource “What to Expect: A Guide for New Firefighter Families” that should be given to every new volunteer firefighter.
Final thoughts
The data is clear: Rigid training and unclear time expectations are preventing those who want to volunteer from taking the next step. By implementing these four practices, you can address these concerns head-on and remove them as barriers. For departments reluctant to change, I offer this final question: If what you have been doing isn’t working, isn’t it time to try something different?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Joe Maruca was chief of the West Barnstable (Massachusetts) Fire Department from 2005 until his retirement in 2024. He previously served as a volunteer firefighter/EMT, lieutenant and captain for the West Barnstable Fire Department for 10 years and as a volunteer firefighter for 18 years with the Sandwich Fire Department and Longmeadow Fire Department. Maruca is an attorney and received his bachelor’s in business administration from Boston University’s Questrom School of Management and a bachelor’s in fire department administration from SUNY Empire State College. Maruca is a member of the National Volunteer Fire Council Board of Directors and is chair of the NFPA 1917 Technical Committee on Ambulances.
