Recruitment and retention

Greetings to my fellow firefighters and families hope all is well in your communities. The year is flying by as we have just had the Mid-Year meeting in Coralville and want to thank all who attended as most of us that serve on the board will say we like association participation at meetings.      

            I was also able to go to Robins Iowa and give out a 30-yr award to their chief Keith Feldkamp; it was evident he has made an impact to the community as the entire City Council was present at the presentation. I then attended the Iowa Chiefs Association meeting in Edgewood presenting them with our legislative goals and current updates on the LOSAP program and Safer Grant.  The board has been at three fire schools in the state I made the trip down to Ottumwa to the Indian Hills Fire School where I was able to talk to the volunteers concerning the available programs that we have been able to get through legislation for them.  

I want to touch base on how the Safer Grant is doing and how we may look at adjusting the available programs.  We have had a strong start to requests for the individual PPE 82 request 10 completed, 64 awaiting reimbursement form, and 8 more ready for FEMA when they come back online.  The video that was made for recruitment during 2025 convention for Facebook and Instagram has had good positive feedback, please continue to communicate to the board on your recruitment status.  Please send any clips from your department pertaining to training or recruitment that would be informational to insert into the video so we can keep it fresh and current.   We will also be adding TV and Roku as platforms to further communication of our videos on recruitment.  Through the Safer Grant we have a one-click application process where an applicant is tracked to our association and then routed to a department in their area.  Presently we have had 166 leads captured and routed to their local departments, if you receive notice of a candidate you will need to contact them to discuss the possibility of them becoming a volunteer.  I also want to tell you we have created a marketing package it can be personalized (Logo and Name) to your department; it consists of a Banner 100 Posters and 200 Postcards; your department can request this kit through the web page under the Safer Grant (at no charge to department).  Presently we have forty-eight kits approved and ordered with eight pending department approval and eight forms in process.  All these programs are on the web page under the Safer Grant.  

In closing I would like to encourage you to talk and listen to each other as we need to stay strong physically and mentally to provide outstanding service to protect our communities.  So please take care of each other, if you have a concern for someone talk and listen to them and point it out to your department leadership, as we are strongest when we take care of our brothers and sisters in the service.  

Kent Brix, IFA President