What are some of the key elements to a successful combination fire department?

Warden: I would say you have to have an element of trust between the two organizations as you move forward in a combination situation. You have to be upfront and communicate everything that's going to be undertaken in the transition.

Hutchens: I think that like many other issues, attitude has to start at the top. Whether the chief is volunteer or paid, that chief has to exhibit the value of both sides. The volunteers as well as the combination people are equally important, and while they may have different responsibilities or different tasks from time to time, their participation is equally important.

Ray: The key is having a shared vision about community service, [which] includes all elements of our business, not just an emergency response.

Paulsell: I'd suggest that it also involves a clear understanding of the motivations, of the values and of what's important to the different groups. Even in a totally career or volunteer system you have the diversity of different types of demographics within an organization. As we see the transition occur, what motivates the volunteers is quickly replaced by the career staff and you lose that interest and motivation and then their interest. Likewise, the career people need the value and worth, and it's a delicate balance.

Scott: I agree with the things that Steve advanced. I think it's pretty important that you have a framework that equally recognizes the contributions of both the volunteer and career, and it's set up so that there's clear lines of responsibility and authority, and it sets the stage so that both can be equally successful with their contributions.

How do you integrate paid personnel into a volunteer environment?

Warden: The system we used up here and continue to use is that everybody has to be here together at least twice a month to start with. We have a very good working relationship that way. The volunteers take the lead sometimes in the training sessions as well as the full-time. We keep them together and are not separated into groups being trained one way and the other another way. It works well.

Are the training sessions held at night or during the day?

Warden: The sessions are held at night, 7 o'clock on the second and fourth Tuesday. We're contemplating going to every Tuesday.

Hutchens: We do similar. Many of my part-time paid people work strictly days while my volunteers are away at work. We make the training available to them; it's not mandatory because most of those part-time people have fire service careers at some other departments. At most volunteer departments there's a social element probably greater than most career departments. We encourage the continuation of that social element, but we always encourage the career or part-time people to participate along with their families.… Once they become workmates and family friends, it seems to add to a positive environment.

Ray: I think one of the keys to integrating the paid people into the department system is to pay them and assign them to a task that they enjoy. An example is that I have about 10 personnel who are being compensated right now on the smoke detector program; that's taking our target-hazard homes — that's everyone over 65 in the community — and I pay those volunteers to do that program. It provides them extra money, and it doesn't create a riff with the emergency response side of the house. Typically we don't have a problem with volunteers helping the community by responding to emergencies; it's some of the pre-fire planning, hydrant testing and inspections that we sometimes have problems getting volunteers to do. I found if you pay for those special tasks, it seems to work well.

Paulsell: That's what we've done with our support staff. We identified that the volunteers clearly had certain motivations that we've said earlier, that they want to explore and involve themselves in and we pay people to do the less glamorous-type activities like prevention and education programs. In that type of configuration, it sends a clear message to the volunteers that we still value them enough and their time that we're willing to support that in any fashion we can.

The other piece that ties in with the social aspect is that these folks that typically work an 8-to-5 type of job, don't go home at 5 o'clock. If the volunteers have a training at 7 o'clock, our guys are sitting right there with them and conducting or participating in them, and rolling out of bed at 2 or 3 in the morning and going to alarms.

I think the deal-breaker is when there is a perception on the part of the volunteers that the career guys are better than they are or don't need to participate in these activities. We push that hard on the career people and try to maintain that volunteer attitude and involvement after-hours, whatever it takes to be a part of the total system, from a professional point of view and a social.

Hutchens: I think in the initial hiring of the paid people it's very important that they have a special attitude. Part of the interview process has to determine whether those people really are going to be capable of managing themselves in a volunteer/paid situation.

Paulsell: That's absolutely correct. All of our people with responsibility come out of the ranks of the volunteers and they understand it better. Bringing someone in from a totally career background in a manager spot in a totally volunteer system has a lot of potential for being disastrous, I think.

Scott: I think a couple of things are important about integrating those systems together. In our system, career people do shift coverage as well as have administrative responsibilities. We have several assigned to public education, and they chair or facilitate committees that also have volunteer involvement in them.

One of the things that's really critical when you start integrating career into a volunteer system is first, make sure everyone understands what their responsibility is both administratively and if they have suppression duties as well. Second — I can't over emphasize this — but in your selection process, it's who you bring into the system. The personality has to be key to who is selected and how you incorporate people. The personality will set the tone for hiring career staff and also set the tone for how people are going to interact. If the person is pretty abrasive, you probably [placed] yourself in a difficult situation in the beginning.

If you have firefighters who are career in another department, does that pose problems?

Hutchens: I have those and it hasn't posed a problem. In fact it has added a level of credibility on both sides because the paid people respect their experience, knowledge, etc., that volunteers have in their career jobs, and the volunteers respect it because they have given a lot of time, effort, talent to getting training and experience in the job. To me that's a great bridge to both sides.

Warden: It's not that way in Ontario right now unfortunately, because the two-hatter issue is still a big issue and is still going on. The IAFF is certainly pushing that the members should not be serving as volunteers on other departments.

If volunteers are career firefighters on other departments, what are some benefits paid to volunteers?

Ray: We don't have anything tangible paid other than extra income, but one of the things about using off-duty personnel that work in other cities that they don't happen to live in, is that it provides a little money for our volunteers, but it also prevents our career folk from having to work at the local hardware store or doing tasks that take them out of the fire service. We're trying to keep them in the fire service.

Scott: One of the issues of using career firefighters as volunteers in your local department is the need for benefits to make sure those people have adequate insurance to cover them in the event they are injured and unable to return to work. It appears that is one — not all or most important — argument that we're using the volunteer services of a firefighter from another jurisdiction, but we don't have benefits to back up that person in the event they are injured. That's probably a solid argument for any of our volunteers that come out of private industry who may not have health and medical benefits.

Hutchens: [Benefits is an area] we look at particularly, if they are injured in the line of duty and losing some income from their full-time job. Our city has covered them under normal workmen's comp, but in addition they have picked up a supplemental policy to further add to that income replacement, and that seems to be a real popular benefit to the people I'm able to hire.

Scott: Another area we need to look at, especially when we draw from private industry: Is there any kind of coverage for that employer who loses that employee and is out additional funds to pay for that individual's replacement? As everyone gets busier and busier, that may be a critical element to benefit structure in the future, taking care of the employer so they will support the local fire department.

What are some of the other areas that cause problems between volunteer and career departments?

Warden: One of the things we experienced was when the volunteer association was having their meeting, the paid people were part and parcel of the decision-making in those meetings and that was starting to cause a bit of a problem. We sat down to resolve it and decided that the volunteers would have their own meetings and the professionals have their own meeting, so in fact, they shouldn't be attending and directing the volunteer association meetings. Once we got that straightened out, it worked very well.

Hutchens: One of the things that works for me is that I never listen to anybody say, “It's not my job.” Whether they're paid or volunteer, we need to do what it takes to get the job done, and that seems to work across the board for both sides.

Scott: I think one of the important things of maintaining that balance is a term that we call “tactical equality” and that basically says that whatever job you're going to do, whether you're career or volunteer, if you're going to perform at a firefighter, engineer or officer level, then you need to be certified to that level. Everybody meets the same criteria, before you're allowed to be a part of or function in that position.

For us, we don't have the typical issues between career and volunteer — who's in charge of whom — because everybody met the same criteria to get those positions, and it's up to management and the chief officers of that organization to see that that's enforced. So in our system it's very possible that you can have a volunteer assistant chief who is running all the operations with all the career folks who are responding.

I think that the ability to say that everybody has the same training, same experience level, … once you've attained that position and maintain that position, you need to be respected at that level you maintained.

That leads to the question of who's in charge of a paid crew? Do the volunteer officers act as officers if the majority of the crew is paid?

Ray: We utilize the incident command system so it doesn't matter who's compensated and who isn't. If you follow those training and qualifications, then our personnel have an outcome that is based on their training. There's no difference on the scene.

Paulsell: I agree. Using the incident command system, there's no difference whether a career or volunteer [officer] assumes command. Where you get in trouble is when you have two different kinds of standards in one department, where perhaps they reduce the standards for the volunteers and officers, and create a disparity in qualifications and capabilities that is prone for debate and questions.

Scott: Any new issues handled on the fireground that are about performance on the fireground need to be handled by the officer or whatever that system recognizes as the authority for that area. The more personnel-related issues may not be handled by the incident commander, but by a human resource person in our department who deals with personnel issues on both sides of the fence.

Warden: In Wasaga Beach, we don't have any officers within the volunteer structure. Our officers come from the career department. [A] captain would be in charge until the deputy or myself arrived to take command. We do use the Incident Command management system and it works very well. They are all trained to the same standard and it works well.

How is the determination made on which positions to fill in the transition from a fully volunteer to a combination department?

Hutchens: I don't think there's a good answer for that that's going to meet everybody's needs. Budget is going to determine some of those things and certainly looking at the department will be the determination. If you need a training officer, then that's the position that needs to be filled.

Ray: You need to do a community risk assessment followed by a staff analysis. I think too many times we look at the tax base and equate the budget with that and then live with that versus doing the community risk assessment and staffing and saying, “Here's the consequences associated with this.” The community risk assessment is a key starting point.

Paulsell: I agree. You have to determine your local area, budget, geography.… In the more rural areas that are becoming more sparsely populated, maybe you need firefighters in fire stations. In an area that's heavily populated and still has volunteers, what's dragging the system down? It might be in training, maintenance or public ed.

A lot of that information can come from your volunteers — go to them and ask what they think. Where do you need help? Do you need help covering the stations from 8 to 5? Do you need help getting the trucks fixed? What are you willing to do and what are we willing to do to target career support? That provided a lot more buy-in from the volunteers, if they had the opportunity to buy in early in the process. When you start turning that corner, if there's a lot more support in the beginning, they are more willing to support those challenges.

Scott: Everything is basically computerized, so everything is statistically based, but a big part of that is that we rely on volunteers. What will this system support very well and what is it that this system is basically tired of supporting and don't feel they can provide the quality services any more? In some cases, that may be administrative functions since most volunteers like to respond to calls and depending upon how diverse your volunteer base is, that may be where you have to start. In an analysis of your calls and visiting with your volunteers, it might be answering alarms during the day because you're not making the runs.

As chief of a combination department, you must sometimes feel like you're walking a fence. How do you maintain a balance with the needs of the volunteers versus the career?

Warden: We've answered that question by basically keeping the lines of communication open and treating everyone in a fair manner.

Hutchens: Basically, listen more and talk less.

Paulsell: We spend a lot of time formally and informally in discussions, just listening to what people think. If I get to a training program at 7 p.m., then I make sure that class shuts down by 9:30 so I've got time to answer questions and hear what they've got to say. If I go to a fire scene, I won't step in a command role; I'm more interested in watching and observing and listening, particularly in the informal process when the emergency is over and hearing what they've got to say. But you've got to be available.

Ray: It helps, too, to have access to the leadership, like Steve had said. In my situation it helps being all-volunteer; they feel that the leadership shares both sentiments and it really is about the big vision of the organization.

Scott: Shane, I think when they see you there, coming in from wildland calls at three o'clock in the morning, if they see the chief down there helping get those units back in service, that shows a level of respect for what the volunteers contributed and you're concerned about what they have to do in a couple hours, and that's go back to work. It's critical that the chief officer have interaction like that in combination departments.

What are some of the signs of a dysfunctional fire system?

Hutchens: Separate resources. I know of departments that have an apparatus that's strictly for the paid and then a separate apparatus for the volunteers. I don't have it in my department, but I've seen it in others. Some even have separate facilities on the same piece of property — the paid guys' firehouse and the volunteers' firehouse.

Paulsell: I think another symptom is clearly just monitoring the grumbling. It's evident, it's blatant and you'd almost have to close your eyes and plug your ears not to notice when the friction starts increasing between the two groups and something's breaking down. They'll tell you, but I think that's the biggest indicator.

Scott: I think you can see it internally and externally, when any of the two groups becomes subordinate to the other, then I think you're well on your way to having problems. It's kind of interesting, one of the gauges to take a look at the minority group in your department's organization and see what that looks like compared to the majority group. It will give you a pretty good idea of what's going on.

In our case, we constantly gauge that against our volunteers who have an average retention rate of 17 years. On the career side, we want to make sure people are returning from our system as well. If we have a high turnover in the career ranks, then we've probably got some issues that are starting.

Ray: Another sign goes along with what Chief Hutchens mentioned with separate resources is separate department functions. Training sessions, meetings for one group or the other are going to create the grumbling that needs to be monitored.

Do you require both groups to have the same quality of equipment?

Hutchens: Absolutely. Whatever the equipment, I feel the job is the same, the risks are the same. In Texas, the volunteers are not regulated by the state whereas the paid are, but we have taken the position that whether you have a pay check coming to you or not, you are still going to have equal opportunity for equipment or training.

What's the best advice you'd have for a chief transitioning a department from a volunteer to a paid department?

Warden: Communication, communication, communication.

Hutchens: Listen. Have specific job descriptions for the paid people before they are hired so they won't be surprised when they come in.

Paulsell: We have five departments on this call and none of the five do it the same way. Before a department jumps in any given direction, I'd suggest they look at some different systems and talk to some people that have been down this road. Identify the options that might be available to them and talk about what their needs are. I've talked to a lot of folks who feel the first thing you have to do is start hiring a lot of firefighters to put in fire stations, and that might be the case in a given area, but what we've seen from this discussion, there are a lot of ways to do that, part-paid support personnel, and one size doesn't fit all.

The IAFC's Volunteer Combination Officers Section is a great resource for somebody in this lurch to go and interact with a variety of people involved in these types of programs. You don't have to operate in a vacuum in the fire community any more.

Ray: Networking is probably one of the keys, sharing that vision and documenting it with a plan. Look at what others are doing and capture that, apply it to your community risk assessment and then share it with your members of the fire department so they have a clear plan of where they are going.

Scott: I agree. One of the key elements is that you have to plan this thing out. This is kind of like having a baby. It's going to be something new for everybody, and it's going to take two parties to make sure this thing comes off well. Above all, if you're going from all-volunteer to part-career, you've got to keep the volunteers in the loop. They have got to be part of the planning and the selection process. They have to buy in the beginning or it's not going to work very well.

Hutchens: I think you have to capture the enthusiasm, too, when something works. Share it with everybody — the pats on the back and those sorts of things. They are small, but they go a long way in making the team concept work. Give them the atta'boys.

Would you like to add anything else?

Paulsell: An observation I would make is that often times because of all the challenges encased in this type of transition that we can often easily find ourselves in a mentality that this is not a good thing, but driven out of necessity. Warren Isman, who was really one of the fire service's greatest leaders, said that he believed that the volunteer and career combination was the best of all the systems because it allowed you, if managed properly, to bring out the best attributes of the volunteer core and the best attributes of a career system, and you could mingle them and match them to make the organization stronger.

I think this is important when you start to make this transition, that this is a good thing and it can propel your organization into a much better system. If it's not managed with all the things we talked about today, and proper management is not applied, it can have some disastrous consequences, but it has great potential.

Hutchens: I agree wholeheartedly. We've been combination for about 15 years and I've been chief that whole period. I can guarantee that our whole department is much better and much stronger than it was, and our people are happier.

Warden: The training system should be equal for volunteers and career. Any new position that becomes available should be open to the volunteers to transfer to the career position, providing that they have taken the training that the department requires. It seems to increase the morale if they know that they may be in a position to become a career firefighter.

Ray: It's better to remember the value of serving the community, not just the fire protection part of it. It's about preserving that quality of life and the service we provide. However we can work together to best achieve that. Like Chief Hutchens said, it's better to ask the citizens.

Probably the most important thing in our community and our surrounding community, we have automatic aid. Personnel are not always the only solution. We passed a residential sprinkler ordinance. If you build it and occupy it in our community, you have to provide sprinklers. We use that too to keep up the growth that we knew we couldn't keep up with just hiring personnel.

Scott: Combination systems can be a terrific way for your organization to be healthy, provide good services, have lots of social interaction and can be a cost-effective way to provide services and good equipment, as long as the community understands their obligations of a combination system in maintaining low personnel costs and their need to ensure good equipment and apparatus.

Lastly, something the fire service needs to work on is that a combination system is truly a discipline to itself. The fire service has to start grooming people with the ability to effectively manage combination systems.

Kathleen Hutchens is the fire chief/marshal for Jersey Village Emergency Services, a combination department in the Houston, Texas, area. The department currently has 40 volunteers, 13 part-time personnel and three full-time personnel. Hutchens began her fire service experience as a volunteer. She has served as an adjunct instructor for the National Fire Academy and the Texas Engineer Extension Service.

Steve Paulsell is chief of the Boone County Fire Protection District in Columbia, Mo., the third-largest department in the state. He has served in that position for 28 years. Paulsell is also the sponsoring agency chief for Missouri Task Force 1 and a member of FEMA's Urban Search and Rescue Advisory Committee. Paulsell also serves as chairman of the Missouri Fire Service Alliance, is a regional coordinator for the Missouri fire service statewide mutual aid system and was Fire Chief magazine's first Career Fire Chief of the Year in 1996.

Shane Ray currently serves as chief of the Pleasant View (Tenn.) Volunteer Fire Department and as a lieutenant with the Brentwood (Tenn.) Fire Department. He began his fire service career as a volunteer Fire Explorer with Pleasant View. Ray received a bachelor's degree in fire protection administration with a minor in political science from Eastern Kentucky University. He participated in the John F. Kennedy School of Government's Senior Executive Program and the University of Maryland's Leadership Development Program.

Gary Scott serves as fire chief and administrator for the Gillette-Campbell County (Wyo.) Fire Department. This combination department has 20 paid members and 180 volunteers. Scott is a 30-year veteran of the Wyoming fire service and active with the Wyoming Fire Chiefs Association. He also is the legislative coordinator for the IAFC's Volunteer and Combination Officers Section and most recently co-authored the Blue Ribbon Report, “Preserving and Improving the Future of the Volunteer Fire Service.”

Chief Donald F. Warden is the director of the Emergency Services Corporation of the Town of Wasaga Beach, Ontario. He began with the department in 1974 as a probationary firefighter/building inspector and was appointed its first full-time deputy fire chief in 1979, before being named to his current position in 1994. He is on the board of directors of the International Association of Fire Chiefs and is the chair of the federal government relations committee of the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs.