Just mentioning the phrase “volunteer longevity” brings up a myriad of questions and doubts. That's because keeping volunteers has been the big problem for many fire chiefs across the country.

The costs of initial training for a new member can reach into the thousands of dollars just to meet Occupational Safety and Health Administration and National Fire Protection Association requirements and recommendations. And that doesn't include sponsoring a basic firefighter course or an emergency medical technician course. Often these “luxuries” have to be budgeted to be feasible. Keeping members for a longer period of time results in lower initial training costs and increases customer service to the area we protect.

Volunteers are the backbone to any combination or all-volunteer fire department. Some administrators are good at keeping a viable volunteer staff while others are good at losing them. There are ways to strengthen and empower volunteers so that the product you receive is a member who is experienced and trained who you can keep for upwards of 20 years instead of the average three to five years (depending on the source you use).

Enlisting volunteers can be a chore in itself. Many people have lifestyles and work that leave very little time for any outside donations of time to any volunteer organization let alone the fire department. This creates a huge problem for any fire chief in gaining members. Several avenues of enlisting volunteers exist.

We tried television, radio and the newspaper ads. In my experience, advertising in media outlets attracts at least the same amount of applicants with a criminal history as it does those without criminal histories. One guy in particular had just been paroled for, you guessed it, arson. We ended up with a lot of applicants; 90% of them either never returned a phone call or failed to show up for an interview. The remaining 10% stayed for less than six months, creating a further hardship on existing volunteer members.

Once we even put up a sign on the side of the building in the hopes of gaining members. During its 5½ years on the building, it took more paintball hits (two) than it gained enlistments (one).

The most effective recruiting method is word of mouth. The members, in just talking with their friends mention the organization. Of course to talk favorably, they must feel a part of the organization. And the members get to select those they want to work with. With this method, half of the chief's work is done. Members simply invite their friends to a drill to meet the folks in the department; about 90% of the people that cross the door enlist. Of these folks, 76% of them have stayed past five years, 23% have stayed past 10 years, and one has stayed past 25 years.

As a result, we now enlist volunteers only by word of mouth. Members invited personally into the department tend to stay for the longest period of time, have a fuller knowledge of fire department organization and tend to enlist members by word of mouth as they themselves were enlisted.

Now what? We put the new members through their initial orientation and basic awareness training. We conducted basic first aid and firefighting courses. These people are ready to go out and save lives, right? Not if they aren't here and not if they don't respond to calls.

Of course a fire chief's responsibilities do not end with a successful enlistment effort. The chief must maintain a viable force. This can equal the challenge of enlistment. Below are some ideas that have worked very well for me. These ideas empower volunteers and give them a feeling of self worth. Even if you are having a bad day you must employ many of these practices weekly to retain your folks.

Greet every member that comes into the station. If you are extremely busy and don't have time to visit, make like you are going to get coffee or to the restroom, this way you won't be followed and still have greeted your staff. Even 10 minutes out of the day can be a huge relief to the mundane task of answering e-mails or talking on the phone. In this day and age everyone has voice mail and won't miss a call. Let your staff hear the phone ringing in the background and see you ignoring it. This will go a long way with them. You have entrusted each and every volunteer with multi-million dollar equipment. Get up and at least say hello.

Be at every drill each week at least 30 minutes before the start. I attend all drills while in town and make contact with every member of the department who attends training to see how he or she is doing. Many times I find out little tidbits that I hadn't known about training, the public or the manager. This is valuable for the chief as well as for the members because they have been recognized by the administrator. I can recall so many times that I have attended training and have not been recognized by the instructor when entering the classroom. At one training program in Nevada that I attended last year, the instructor greeted everyone at the door. A friendly “hello” and a handshake went a long way. It is amazing the respect an admiration gained from this simple gesture.

Make the time valuable once you have either set up a meeting or inadvertently met with a member of the organization. Allow no interruptions from cell phones, business lines, faxes or other members. Don't allow interruptions from other members when engaged in a one-on-one discussion with a member. That person was there first and should be given the respect that his or her position demands.

Once I was talking with an older member at the fire station. We were in my office discussing the finer points of a pump that overheated the night before when the mayor walked in. My firefighter's jaw dropped to the floor when I told the mayor to grab a seat and I'd be with him in a few minutes. When he left that office (and I now had the mayor to deal with) he told several friends that the chief put off the mayor for a firefighter. The mileage gained from this little thing will go a long way with your folks and the damage from the mayor is slight.

Each member at each drill gets either a Susan B. Anthony or Sacagawea dollar. Some members come to training not wanting to miss even one drill because of the dollars. You'd never think a dollar could go so far. Two years ago I ran out of dollars to give to members. Judging by their reaction, you would have thought the world ended. Since then I keep a supply with a couple of drill nights' worth as a back up. I'll never run out again. I hand a dollar to each member and thank him or her for coming to the drill. If for some reason I'm not present, the members don't want their dollar given to them by the instructor or another officer. Now this was a shock to me. It seems it just wasn't the same not having been handed to them by the chief. Of course in some organizations the chief of the department usually doesn't attend drills, but the fire chief of a volunteer fire department must attend drills. The chief needs to be seen by the members and build a rapport with the officers. In addition, it is extremely important that the chief see how the department operates as a team.

In the case of a career department an open-door policy may not be possible. However, a fire chief of a combination or an all-volunteer fire department has no choice in the matter. Fire chiefs of volunteer organizations must have an open-door policy for all members. This is not to say that the chief will solve all of their problems. It simply means you let folks come into the office to talk about departmental issues, problems with co-workers or personal matters. This doesn't mean you have to buy into each and every thing that a member brings to your attention. It simply means being a good listener.

Being a good listener is key to an open-door policy. If you are working at your computer, log off so you can pay attention to your visitors without e-mails grabbing your attention. Be attentive as they speak and never be sympathetic but empathetic. Understand their problems with a calm demeanor. Remember, they are coming to you as the fire chief, someone who they respect and who will listen. They are depending on you being stable and firm and, at the very least, someone to vent to. In most cases you will be able to point the member in the right direction to fix the problem or issue. Over the years I've had members come to me asking what a P-wave is to deciding a name for their newborn baby girl.

Every department has a rumor mill. The best way to describe this is a cancer. In this department, the rumor mill, groups, and talking behind other's backs are treated as a nasty disease and quickly dealt with. When the chief strongly discourages this type of behavior, the message moves through the command staff and trickles down through the officers to the members.

Don't get me wrong; it still exists among the members. It just doesn't exist in the firehouse. Any member wishing to talk about another member, start rumors or simply belittle an individual can go somewhere else to do it. Any of the members wishing to stay within their little groups or clicks are quickly disseminated into other individuals and broken up through out the department and not allowed to thrive within the safety of the group. What I do is rearrange their seating, barge into the middle of their conversation circle and force them to break it up. I've even gone as far as formally reprimanding a member for lack of respect of another individual and it wasn't until this person was faced with termination that the person changed the behavior. This department does have a clique; one big one with 41 members.

The department-wide clique didn't happen by accident. It was planned and designed with the five members when I started five years ago. I needed something to bring this group together — a common denominator. Their differences in personalities demanded that I find something in common with all of them. Since nothing common existed between them, I had to create something. With the help of all the members at the time, we designed a departmental logo and had it embroidered on black jackets. This brought the group together from that day forward with a common denominator. They wore the jackets everywhere they went around town. At the end of each member's probationary period, they receive the departmental jacket as a rite of entry. I cannot stress enough the importance of finding (or creating) the common denominator. Doing so will keep the department together as a unit and build teamwork and camaraderie.

The ax is the symbol of this department. “Use the ax” is common terminology from the chief and has gained a lot of respect. The ax symbolized is a pick-head ax with three phrases written on various parts of the ax: handle on safety; point of customer service; and cutting edge of professionalism.

By referring to these three key elements we can, as a group, provide the highest level of service to the area we protect. The bond of these members is rare to see within an organization with such a wide range of individuals. So, quite simply put, either use the ax or get the ax.

Members know that the administration here is fair and swift. Members here are treated as firefighting and EMS professionals. There certainly are some members who I like more than others. However, I treat them all the same, being fair and impartial across the board for the betterment of the department as a whole. This brings to mind one particular time in my career 212 years ago when it was necessary for me to resign as the fire chief of this organization. I was a volunteer fire chief for six years until changes at my job led me to resign. The members banded together and convinced the governing body to hire me as the first fire chief for the South Tongass Volunteer Fire Department. I was gone for six months from this department — truly the longest and hardest six months of my career. However, due to the political circumstances that surrounded the policy change, the decision was easy because it was in the best interest of the department.

For many fire chiefs, any thought of spending their off time with members of their departments is the farthest thing from their minds. I enjoy much of my off-duty time with members of the department. They are all my friends and I enjoy their company away from the workplace. I keep a very fine line between the chief of the department and friend. Everyone respects the two different hats I wear and never cross the line. When I am at the fire station I am the chief. Away from the station I am simply Scott. This works extremely well for everyone concerned. It gives you a chance to spend time with the friends and family of those in the organization as well as for them to see you as human once in a while.

Every year I host a barbecue for all department members as a thank you for the past year's work and dedication. We have steaks and all the trimmings. And like most fire departments, we let our hair down a little. A fire chief is always the chief, both on duty and off duty. However, you don't have to be the stiff, stuffed-up white pillar all the time.

Often, I'll be driving downtown and see some of the members having coffee. I'll stop to say hello. A lot of times at these little coffee meetings, a lot gets done. It's really nice to get out of the office and just visit.

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Scott Davis is fire chief of the South Tongass Volunteer Fire Department in Ketchikan, Alaska.