Editor’s Note: For more industry insights on issues tied to firefighter recruitment and retention; safety, health and wellness support; technology adoption; and career development, check out FireRescue1’s What Firefighters Want resource hub.
We asked FireRescue1 readers to imagine they could fix one fire service issue overnight; what would it be? In more than 500 responses, readers touched on everything from staffing levels and members’ egos, to pension and benefits, to station politics and more.
Have something to add? Share your thoughts.
Culture and member camaraderie
- “Egos. No place for an ego in the fire service. Learn the job, do the job, love the job, treat the public and everyone in the house with respect and dignity.”
- “Attitudes. Return to tradition. Respecting those who have lived the job.”
- “Focus on CULTURE!!! Every issue people complain about — burnout, toxic environments, lack of accountability, poor morale — almost always traces back to leadership tolerance. What gets ignored becomes the standard.”
Internal rivalries between shifts and staff can erode trust and culture, but a shared mission can bring everyone back to the same side
PFD Assistant Chief Jeff Schripsema shares a powerful story highlighting the department’s commitment to its members
Mental health
- “Remove the stigma around asking for help! Some departments have been able to do this but a lot haven’t yet.”
- “Mental health support, especially for the newer guys. Ways to cope with what you see and live through.”
- “My greatest wish is to have a comfort dog and every fire station.”
From family outreach to increased counseling access and more understanding from supervisors, firefighters are looking to leadership to step up in this area
Dr. Rachelle Zemlok takes the Better Every Shift crew inside the psychologist’s office during First Responder Wellness Week
Recruitment, retention and staffing
- “Manpower. Equipment doesn’t put fires out.”
- “Standards. Hire the most physically and mentally fit candidates. Stop hiring based on race and gender. Fire doesn’t discriminate.”
- “Sufficient and properly trained personnel to adequately fill all positions from suppression to dispatch.”
- “Volunteer recruitment, retention and participation. It’s not glamorous and rarely gets the headlines like the big city departments, but volunteer departments are critical to the nationwide fire service in the U.S.”
Five recommendations to address the evolving needs of our newest workforce
Bringing back family-focused values may be the enticement prospective members seek – or the glue that holds together the organization
Fire department management
- “Have all fire departments fall under the state’s National Guard, with all of the pay, benefits, fitness requirements and medical care afforded to the National Guard.”
- “Make it to where [the fire service] is not a ‘business.’”
- “The ‘good ‘ol boys’ attitude, especially in volunteer departments.”
- “Billing nursing homes, ALFs and medical facilities for using 911 in non-emergencies (such as lift assists while five nursing staff members are standing around observing).”
- “Sending bills to non-emergency calls whether it be to nursing homes, facilities or even homeowners just looking for a non-emergency ride. It’s not an uber service.”
- “The ‘good ‘ol boy’ popularity contest that allows advancement.”
Leadership is not defined by title or traits but by the willingness to step forward, take responsibility and be present when decisions must be made
Undefined expectations and team overload are quietly undermining your workforce
Fire service operations
- “Cost and wait time for new fire trucks to be delivered.”
- “I think the fire standards need to be the same country wide. And all certs should transfer from state to state. Do away with IFSAC and Pro Board and just have an American standard.”
- “Making words clear and understandable while transmitting radio messages in mask/SCBA.”
- “Use carcinogenic-free training gear… it’s a thing now. Stop exposing yourself during training.”
Dr. Rich Gasaway encourages all firefighters to study near-miss reports, not to judge those involved but to learn from them
Survey data highlights how equipment shortfalls and unclear expectations influence how firefighters act under pressure
Medical care and retirement planning
- “As a firefighter ages and the body wears, create a career pathway position switch option to ensure they make it to retirement age.”
- “I would take what we know about cancer in the fire service, decontamination and safe work practices and go back in time to when plastics started appearing in furnishings and interior wall/floor coverings and educate everyone then with what we know now.”
- “Mandatory annual physicals.”
- “Cover cancer without a big hissy fit.”
Our job search should be short, for who could deny a retired firefighter employment?
Consistent strength training, mobility work and recovery habits can help firefighters protect their bodies now and fully enjoy life after the job
Fire-based EMS operations
- “Make EMS its own fully independent thing with higher funding; both departments would benefit.”
- “Pay parity between fire and EMS personnel in the same fire department.”
- “Separate the fire service from EMS.”
- “Paramedics are paramedics and firefighters are firefighters.”
Five factors explain why our current crop of firefighters and firefighter-EMTs never make the move to paramedic
Lillian Bonsignore draws on her 30-plus-year EMS career to spotlight the financial realities facing first responders
