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I am compiling a list of the many ways people use to maintain the membership requirements for volunteer fire departments. Some require 25 % of all activities, others 50%, and still others require separate drill totals. How about you?
Keep those replies coming.
[This message has been edited by HarryRCarterPhD (edited 01-05-99).]
We are expected to attend at least 50% of all fire calls,50% of all corparate meetings,and 50% of all squad trainings. To remain a member in good standing.
We require 30% for calls & training (in house)and 50% of business meetings. If you don't make the quota, your reason must be presented to the membership. The membership then votes to retain or remove you. In six years I have only seen one person removed this way.
In our by-laws, to be active firefighter or member you must abtain 50 points in a six month period. This is base on our LOSAP retirement points for the year (50pt).
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Our County Fire protection Assoc. requires a minimum of 6 hrs. per quqrter of training to remain a certified Dept. However, in real life much more is required for our Dept. to give the kind of customer service that is expected. We have an ISO 5 rating that we don't want to lose. So we keep training up to date, interesting and frequent. We use newsletters and social events to keep morale, and motivation up. We've got a full roster and people coming out of the woodwork that want to help. If it works...it works.
A Department I was with in SoFla required firefighters to respond to 15% of all calls and officers to respond to 25%. Training was done in-station, twice a week. There are 10 or 11 modules (high-rise, hose lays, forcible entry...) that each firefighter had to attend during the year, with a new module introduced every 3-4 weeks. Each station could have a different day / time for training, so if you missed a module, you could usually make it up at a different station. The other training days during the month were often open to the station officer's discretion (meetings, specialty training - Extrication, Haz-Mat...). We were also required to attend 7 out of the 12 monthly Association meetings to stay active.
For pension credit, you had to maintain a higher call %, but I don't remember the number off the top of my head.
The fire company requires each firefighter to attend 3 company meetings, 3 in-house training sessions and take 1 certified course per year. The certified course can be anything related to the services we provide as long as it is certified by the Pennsylvania State Fire Academy, National Fire Academy or a similar organization. The fire "line" officers (Assistant Chief, Captain and Lieutenant) must approve any course application for the firefighter to be covered by Workmen's Compensation insurance, so they check the course. I should state that our volunteers are paid-per-call, minimum wage, and we also have some career staff. Any firefighter who fails to meet the requirements becomes what essentially is a social member. There is an appeal process.
Maurice Grimes
Kingston, PA
Our requirements are broken out according to time served:
Probationary: 15% of fire alarms, 24 trainings (two per month), all County taught drills (we go to about 6 or 7 per year).
1-5 years service: 15% of fire alarms, 12 drills (one per month)
6-10 years service: 12% of fire alarms, 12 drills
11-20 years service: 10% of fire alarms, 12 drills
21+ years service: 0% of fire alarms, 12 drills
All members are also required to attend at least 7 out of 12 department meetings.
All members must complete 24 hours of OSHA defined training sessions to remain an interior firefighter (assuming the physical is passed)
There are approximately 75 drills offered per year.
50% of scheduled trainings (12/24)
but no requirement for calls...
Amazing how the guys usually make the calls, but seem to miss training cause the ...
I like the previous guys option of less calls for longevity...
We have the following criteria for our volunteer dept. in Southern Illinois:
Fires 50%
1 Training Mtg./Month 50%
1 Business Mtg./Month 50%
This is following becoming Illinois certified
Firefighter II
We are a small vol. dept that run approx. 500 to 600 calls a year. We require all members to attend 25% of the structure fires and 25% of the drills.This is in line with the retirement system requirements. This does penalize someone who may miss the few structure calls during the year, so we give credit toward structure call attendance on a 5 to 1 basis(5 other type calls = 1 structure call)This way the people that are always there to make the medical, trash fires etc aren't penalized for missing that once a month structure.
We also are a small Department but our turnout is high for every meeting. We meet every Wed. night. We require you make 75% of all meetings and all EMS calls and all Fire.
We are a bedroom community to Reno, NV and our Firefighter EMT's work our of town.
17 Firefighters, Two stations
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Chuck
we require that a member make 50 runs or 5% of total calls whichever is less. it is extremely easy as we make 1500 runs per year
I was interested in the requirements for continued membership to a volunteer department. As a chief of a small village department in New Brunswick, Canada, I have been toying with the idea of setting minumum standards and time spent at training sessions and other activities. I have found some very good ideas but I will have to do a mix and match to get the right combination. It is increasingly difficult to recruit and retain volunteers with the amount of training courses that are becoming manditory. I have problems with older members who don't feel the need for these courses.
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Regards, Raymond Godfrey
You don't state what the status of these "older" members are. Are they ust there for the firehouse and feel that they've put their time in and don't need to respond? If that's not the case and they are atual responding members, one of the things that we implemented was due to mandatory OSHA training. We have a set number of drills that get credited towards OSHA requirements, and anyone that does not make all of these drills loses their "interior firefighter" status. This at least makes the ones that want to stay around show up for drills. Also, when they're at these drills, make them participate, if it's a saw drill, have every member start and use the saw, same thing with ladders, hurst tool, even the basics of hydrant hookup. They may say 'I was doing that while you were still in diapers' let them show you their proficiency, it may surprise them.
Our by-laws state: If any member has three unexcused absences from drill in succession, or from 2/3 of all fires in a quarter, they will recieve a written notice from the chief to improve. If the same practice continues, the officers may put them on three months probation.
To be excused from a drill all you have to do is call the station before drill and say I won't be at drill. Our drills average 70% on attendance.
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P. Bishop