Fire service Recruitment and retention After 9-11-01

[BIThumper550]

I'd like to know Since 9-11, Has fire service Recruitment increased, decreased or stayed the same after 9-11. I'd also like to know why is it that "Resident only" policies have bared pople who live in the border of a volunteer town from volunteering. It seems to me that some volunteer fire dept's in this country that have "Resident only" policies have contributed to to decline in people who are willing to volunteer. The way i see a Resident only" policy for Volunteer fire dept's is a discrimitaion barrier for people to volunteer. Their needs to be a change in resident only policy for people who live on the border of a neighboring volunteer fore dept, so that people that live on the border of volunteer fire dept may have the chance to help their neighboring community.

Take my case for instance. A long time ago, i was in my early 20's as a EMT in New Britain Connecticut. I wanted to get involved in Fire/Rescue/EMS in the neighboring town's of Newington and Berlin, Ct. Since i live on the border of both towns and was within 2 mins of the nearest fire company in Newington and Berlin, Ct. I was denied the chance to volunteer for their town just because i lived in New britain, CT and i lived on the border of Newington and Berlin, CT. It seems to me that the resident only Policies have Prevented scores of people who's willingess to volunteer for that service only to be barred from volunteer just because they lived on the border and not in the actual town. So now am in Pa volunteering for a Fire company and i am planing to move back to Ct and to see if Newington and Berlin, Ct can let me volunteer.

It just dosn't make any sense to have a "resident only" policy for Volunteer fire companys when they face the statistical facts that volunteer fire companies are losing people and that people from neigboring towns are willing to help and they turn them away. It seems that when volunteer companis that lose people, they should let people volunteer who live on the border of that neighboring town that has a volunteer service. The only way i see of getting more people involved with the volunteer fire service is to remove the barrier of the resident only policy by then and only then will we see an increase in volunteer recruitment and retention

[BFD182]

Residency requirements are in my opinion becomming a thing of the past. But each department needs to consider some factors that relate to residency when considering any applicant. First of all is response time, can the applicant reasonably and safely respond to a call for service from thier location? Second do they live in an area that is served by a volunteer agency, if so are they aware of that agency, if they are is there a good reason they are not joining there?

My Department is one of six districts in our city. Five Volunteer and One Career. I live in the Career Department. Most of the Volunteer Departments have had at one time a requirement to Live or Work in the district. I live within 5 minutes of my station but under the old rules would not have been able to join. Sometimes these changes are not so good. We periodically get applicants from out of town, sometimes more than one town away, none of who have lasted with our department.

I think that as with any recruitment issue, we need to consider if the benifits outweigh the osts. I would love to see more members but with training and equiptment costs we need make sure we recruit those members wisely.

Alan Shaw
Belltown Fire Dept.
Stamford, CT

[Tiger5]

I agree with you guys.

Who cares if they live in your community - as long as they serve your community.

Our department offers very flexible membership opportunities. You can live in four surrounding townships and specialize in Fire, EMS, Rescue, Fire Police or Associate membership for administrative/support personnel only.

[hwoods]

Heard of a few silly things out there but residence requirements for volunteers??? We have no requirement on your place of work or residence for any reason. For one thing, we have only a handful of members who actually respond to the station from home for a call, most of our people are in the station already. The majority of us hang out at the station a lot and we use a duty night program to have a crew each night. We also have 6 members who live at the station, and about 20 who sleep in a night or two each week. For something like one of our snow storms, hurricanes, last year's 9-11 tragedy, etc. people come out of the woodwork. With a need, no, make that a mandate, to get on the street as quick as possible,(about 45-60 seconds) you need to be at the station before the call comes in. Stay Safe....