Junior Fire Fighter Statistics

[JerseyPride57]

Reposted from Junior Forums as nobody seems to answer:

My FD is working to start a Junior Fire Program. Does anyone know of any or have any official statistics/observations that show a Junior program is beneficial to the FD, to help us pitch to Town Council?

-Thanks

[nmfire]

15 of our current 50 members were Explorers/Juniors that wouldn't be there today if wasn't for that program.

5 more of our members joined as result one of those above 14 former explorer/juniors. (friends/significant others/spouses)

That's a total of 20 people that wouldn't be in the department today if it wasn't for the Explorer program. There are 50 people and figure 35-40 actually active. Half maybe more are a result of the program. And many are now chief and line officers.

A handful more former explorer/juniors have moved out of town after school and gotten jobs on career departments or volunteer in the town they moved to.

[tree68]

A neighboring department has a junior program - they've probably got the highest percentage of young firefighters of any department in the area. A department in the southern part of the county has had their program running for 15-20 years. One member recently said that if he had to choose between becoming chief and working with the kids, he'd take the kids any day. That group put on our county firefighters association's monthly dinner this month.

As long as it's well managed, a junior firefighter (or an Explorer) program is a wonderful way to bring new members into the department. Just make sure the adults remain in charge and that you (and the kids) don't forget the purpose of the program.

About the only problem I've ever seen with such a program is that they sometimes neglect to continue to bring in new blood. All too often the initial group works their way up and when the last members move on, the program dies.

[jam24u]

We've had junior firefighters (age 16) for around nine years now. They have been invaluable to our department and our village. They do basically everything except interior attacks. They are great for maintenance and grunt work and training.

They automatically become full members at 18 and often are ready to respond.

[Dickey]

We have had an Explorer program for 20 years now.

I was of the original group and here I am 20 years later. Currently myself and one other guy on the department are part of that original group, still active, still kicking!

Over the years, we have had 75% of the explorers join the department, and several (28 I think, not for sure) go full time somewhere.

Personally, the Explorer post was just the thing I needed when I was 17 years old to give me direction in my life. I was hanging with a "not so savory" group and actually could have been on the other side of the fence. In fact, of the original group that I was hanging out with, myself and one other guy are the only ones that have not spent time in jail at least once in our lives!!!

[auxman]

I thought there was a big report that came out on junior fire fighter programs recently, but I can't seem to find it now. It was more about how the programs were run, but might have had some national stats.