Jim Wulff sits at the Michiana Shores (Ind.) Volunteer Fire Department's kitchen table while his sons, Mike and Kris, nervously pace. Jim, a retired Chicago firefighter, waves them over and tells them to “sit down and relax.”

The Wulff sons are volunteers at the fire department and continue the family tradition of fire service that dates back to their great grandfather. Jim is proud his sons continued the family tradition by serving as first responders in the rural community of about 900 households. But he grumbles “it would be better if they were working for the Chicago Fire Department” and were paid for their commitment to fire service. Kris Wulff smiles when he hears this and admits growing up with a firefighter as a father directly impacted his and his brother's decision to become volunteer firefighters.

“We saw it growing up,” he says. “So it just made sense that serving the community would become part of our lives.”

Many families have a long tradition of joining the fire service, a phenomenon that is even more pronounced on the volunteer side, says Chief James Imes, who runs the Michiana Shores volunteer department and has served the community for nearly 34 years. The department was established to “protect our own homes and our neighbors,” he says. “It's a small department but it's a unique thing to be able to help yourself as well as the community.”

Imes points to the Wulff brothers — who he counts among his star players — as an example of how children of firefighters usually dedicate their time to service, whether as a volunteer, a full-time firefighter, an EMT or in some other capacity. He says leveraging a family tradition of service is a major part of his recruitment strategy, and he hopes more young people will sign up for service.

“The Wulffs are one of many families [in Michiana Shores] who all serve as volunteers for the department,” he says. “That's what keeps it running.”

Help wanted

However, the number of volunteers signing up for the fire service has dropped nearly 8% over the last 25 years, says Philip Stittleburg, chairman of the National Volunteer Fire Council, who has served the volunteer fire service since 1972. Moreover, while recruitment numbers overall are down, public demand for service has increased, he says.

In fact, according to estimates from the National Fire Protection Association, in 1984 there were 897,750 volunteer firefighters in the United States, while the total call volume for all fire departments was 11 million. In 2007, however, the number of volunteer firefighters had declined to 825,450 while the total call volume had skyrocketed to more than 25 million.

Several factors have led to the decline in volunteer firefighters signing up for service, Stittleburg says. In today's economic climate where Americans are working more hours, there's less discretionary time available to dedicate to volunteer services. At the same time, there also is an increased demand on the fire service — volunteer and paid — both in the number of calls and the type of services requested. Moreover, volunteers now have to provide an array of services, e.g., high- and low-angle rescues, and hazmat and medical calls, he says.

“So what we're seeing is the public expecting a greater variety of services and better quality services done with less money,” Stittleburg says.

Tim Wall knows first-hand that family legacy and tradition are crucial to volunteer recruitment. Wall is the fire chief of the North Farms Volunteer Service Fire Department located in Wallingford, Conn. He's a fourth-generation firefighter and has dedicated more than 25 years to the fire service. But his is a combination department, and one of his department's main recruitment challenges involves securing the funds to ensure recruits are certified Firefighter I or EMS/EMT responders, which is required by state law before they can jump on the rig.

Another challenge is keeping them motivated through the training process, Wall says.

“We have to continue to praise [and] encourage the recruit because they have to give their time, through three or four months of training, before they can start helping,” he says. “That can be frustrating for some.”

Fred Windisch is the fire chief, EFO/CFO of the Ponderosa Fire Department that serves 50,000 residents in unincorporated parts of Harris County, Texas, near Houston. It is a suburban, combination department of full-, part-time and volunteer firefighters. He led the department transition from pure volunteer to a combination department. Windisch has hired both part-timers and, over the past two years, full-time firefighters. He says there are several factors that make volunteer recruitment a challenge. For starters, it's important to have an open organization to prevent exclusion. In addition, it's crucial to push a mission-driven, not socially driven, mantra to new recruits.

“Firefighting is dedication and hard work, and when a volunteer comes in [you] have to ensure they are joining for the mission, not the social side,” he says. “It's primarily a good-old-boy network and primarily a social-type organization, when you are talking about volunteer fire service, especially in smaller communities where they get together to do what they have to do for their community. Smaller organizations are still socially driven and the challenge as growth occurs is to modify the social aspect into more of a service, mission-driven organization.”

Perhaps the biggest recruiting challenge for a volunteer department is compensation — or more accurately, the lack of it. According to Imes, his volunteers receive only a $200 stipend from the state to cover transportation and clothing costs. And volunteers need to meet certain criteria to receive that stipend: they must participate in at least 30% of all fire and medical calls and business meetings, as well as 50% of the training sessions and special events, such as fund-raising and public-awareness campaigns. However, Indiana state law does provide medical treatment and burial expense benefits to those who work in a voluntary capacity for a fire department or ambulance company. It also guarantees a one-time $150,000 line-of-duty death benefit to a surviving spouse or children.

“There were rumors volunteer firefighters would get a tax break from the state on their property taxes but we're not holding our breath,” Imes says.

Show us the money

Risking their lives to serve the community is a lot to expect from unpaid volunteers, but many do even more. At Wall's department, recruits, volunteers and paid staff dedicate time to fund-raising on top of their firefighting duties. While big-ticket items — like apparatus and gear — are supported through the town's budget, other items are supported by funds raised through different events, such as a door-to-door letter campaign, a dinner at the firehouse and Christmas tree sales.

Wall sees a benefit to the fund-raising activities. “It brings families together, which is important in the volunteer fire service,” he says. “The families have to be close, happy and understand why mom and dad are there, why they do this. And people look forward to coming to the firehouse. They know the food may be terrible but they want to support [the department].”

Meanwhile, Imes says his firefighters spend much of their time taking on non-operational duties at the firehouse to raise money for gear and training. That includes flipping pancakes, organizing a 5K walk/run and frying fish. “We bring community people in to work on fund-raising but it's not a strong group,” Imes says. “We take [non-firefighters] when they volunteer and maybe that's our mistake. We don't aggressively seek them out.”

Stittleburg agrees, recommending that volunteer fire chiefs shift the non-operational role — like fund-raising — to people other than the firefighters. “[Volunteer] departments need to broaden their base and allow people who aren't interested in fires do other non-operational tasks for us,” he says. “It frees up operational volunteers to fight fires. I have yet to meet a volunteer firefighter who says they joined the service to sell raffle tickets.”

Better yet, communities need to recognize the crucial societal place that volunteer firefighters hold, Stittleburg says. He pointed out that 72% of all firefighters are volunteer and 87% of all departments either are all or mostly volunteer. The majority of the volunteer departments serve communities under 50,000 people, and most communities of fewer than 10,000 rely almost entirely on volunteer firefighters. In addition, such volunteer firefighters and emergency medical providers save municipalities more than $37.6 billion each year, according to the NVFC.

“Communities across the nation depend on these volunteers to protect them from all types of emergencies,” Stittleburg says.

Moreover, Stittleburg says the fire service saves taxpayers billions of dollars a year, so it's incumbent on the public and the government to step up to the plate financially to make sure stations keep operating. He believes it's unrealistic for the public to expect volunteers to donate their time and talents and then also raise the money to pay for the equipment they need to provide such vital service.

“When was the last time a local police department held a bake sale to raise money for a squad car,” he asked. “Ever seen that happen?”

Windisch agreed, saying that the Ponderosa Fire Department no longer depends on the community's charity to support the public's demand for service. Unlike smaller departments reliant on pancake breakfasts and other fund-raising events, Ponderosa is funded by property taxes and service fees often paid through an insurance company for out-of-district calls, such as for responding to a car fire on a highway.

Though they are not paid for their service, volunteers are not free, Windisch notes. Each one must be trained, fitted with gear and radio communications — all of which costs money. So if a department doesn't have enough community support, some fire chiefs think that stations should close.

“Each volunteer can cost a fire department thousands of dollars. Without community support and dollars, it's unreasonable for the public to expect a department to keep running,” he says. “If a department doesn't receive support from the community, they should just close its doors, because it is obvious they are not appreciated.”

Give and Take

The NVFC suggests that people may give their time to volunteer emergency service organizations if the following are met:

• The experience is rewarding and worth their time.
• The training requirements are not excessive.
• The time demands are adaptable and manageable.
• They are rewarded with a personal sense of value.
• There is good leadership minimizing conflict.
• There is ample support for the organization.

NVFC Materials

The NVFC offers to help departments with their retention and recruitment efforts, which include the following programs:

Podcasts: A retention and recruitment podcast features highlights of the NVFC/USFA study, the important role leadership plays in retention and recruitment and best practices to overcoming the obstacles. A National Junior Firefighter Program podcast offers insights and best practices for establishing and managing a local youth program within a department.

Video: the 6-minute “Retention and Recruitment in the Volunteer Emergency Services” gives volunteer and combination departments ideas on how to overcome the challenges as departments search for more volunteers.

Public service announcements: The NVFC has created ready-to-use radio and video PSAs that promote volunteerism to the community. Departments can link to the PSAs from their department Web site, or contact their local radio or television and cable stations to air them.