Where There’s Smoke...

I have been doing lots of interviews all over the nation in the last couple of weeks about retention and recruitment.I know this is an issue that resonates with many in the fire service because there are fire departments that are struggling with this issue. Their firefighters are getting older and they can’t seem to recruit new members. At the same time there are some fire departments, mine included, that don’t seem to have recruitment problems. I know of fire departments that still have waiting lists believe it or not. Once I helped with a recruitment class in a fire department that will remain unidentified. They were struggling with recruitment. I brought up the subject of how they could get young folks to volunteer. They had all sorts of reasons why young people weren’t coming in, why they were not good recruits, why they couldn’t stay off their phones and on & on. By the time I got the end of the day, I understood why they couldn’t recruit.With all of that negativity I decided that I would not want to be part of their fire department either. We are bombarded every day with negativity - from Washington, from Topeka, in our own communities - and I, for one, just am over it.Recently at a Kansas fire conference one of the presenters talked about “informing your face.” This comment had to do with a conversation about being a Christian, but it sure has everything to do with being a firefighter too. My chief even talked to our crews about “informing your face.” What I find, about young people, is that they have other things they canfill their time with and negativity isn’t one they enjoy. I’m old, I don’t like it either. When folks come into the fire house negativity doesn’t have a place. And while this is written primarily as if it is for volunteer houses, it isn’t. When we have struggles recruiting it is a safety issue and when we can’t recruit we don’t field folks who want to move to be career firefighters. I think this explains, in part, the lack of qualified applicants for career firefighter jobs. We have stopped being the farm team. Farm teams isn’t a negative term in my book. When I have had volunteers move up to career status I am very proud to have been a part of that transition.

So what do we do? Well, leaders, (and that’s everyone reading this article) act like leaders. Empower your crews to be recruiters. Will it work out all the time, probably not, but are you potentially missing some of the best people youcould imagine because no one has asked them? Then when these new prospects come into your station, treat them withkindness, find out about them, and mentor them. That is how we will succeed. We talk a lot about family in the fire service. Let’s not just talk the talk, but walk the walk with them. My best friends - perhaps my only friends - are firefighters. They are my firefighters, they are firefighters from around my state, they are firefighters from around this great nation - and yes they are firefighters from far flung places around Planet Earth. We all are the same no matter where we live and no matter whether we get a paycheck or do it for free - we are there to perform our mission competently, compassionately and professionally. We are there for our neighbors when they need our help the most, because where there’s smoke...