Can you envision a day when the volunteer fire service will disappear? Not too many years ago I would have answered this with a resounding no. However, the world is changing so rapidly that I can actually see a point in time when most volunteer fire departments will no longer exist. I do not see this as an absolute, but my study of society has driven me to think this way. However, there are many organizations which are tangential to the life of the fire service which are also suffering through membership declines. They are suffering for the same reasons as our volunteer fire departments. Our younger people do not understand why they exist, they do not see their relevance; and these organizations have duties and responsibilities which are not well-understood by our younger generation.
Like I stated my friends, I come to you today with a really serious issue. Let me start by stating that problem has precious little to do with the actual nuts and bolts of the tasks which we must perform in the day-to-day operations of our respective fire departments. However, there are a great many of tasks which are performed by organizations tangential to what we actually do. It all has to do with what many of us have chosen to label tradition.
At this point let me suggest that not all traditions are created equal. Let me suggest that there are good traditions, mediocre traditions, and bad traditions. But today I want to speak of tradition in a different way. Let me ask you to assess whether the traditions you have in your department are still relevant to the culture of society in the 21st Century. Are you trying to make your new, younger members perform in ways that are no longer relevant to people of the generations which run from age 18-35? Do you harass new people? Do you force them to work their way into the group or do you make them feel welcome? Let me suggest that the time has come for us all to become welcoming and nurturing, because that is what society now expects.There are many different organizations which support the general good of the service. I am speaking of those local, county, regional, station, and national organizations which support the fire service in a variety of ways. You have organizations which provide fraternal, political, and lobbying support for fire department programs. These groups advocate for the good of the fire service.
I just happened to be at the annual convention for the Cumberland Valley Volunteer Fireman’s Association (CVVFA) in Delaware City, Del. late last week and one of our primary discussion points involved the aging out of our organization. This is a conundrum which we all must face. Recruitment and retention problems are common to us all. Let me begin by stating the obvious, which is that I am sure that you will agree with me that today’s fire service is not the fire service of our fathers and our grandfathers.
Let me go so far as to suggest that it is not what it was as recently as say, 10 years or so ago. Let me suggest to you that is we do not change in such as way as to allow us to reach younger generations among us that we, as a community service, will die out.
Let me continue this visit with you by sharing a bit of history with will allow me to build upon my base argument. Not many years ago it was common to have to go on a waiting list to join a local fire department. I can recall fire departments which had waiting lists for their members to get into their local relief organizations.
If you can believe this, there once were times when you had to wait your turn to ride the ambulance or the fire truck. Back in these days there were major league crowds at the various local, regional, county, and state firemen’s associations. They were events which led to political, operational, legislative successes. My friend, these days are going the way of my late father’s old Hudson Hornet. But I believe that this does not have to happen.
But having said that let me also suggest that our tradition of service continues. But just what is the nature of that tradition and are we expressing it in ways that the coming generations of younger people will understand? Let me suggest that our tradition breaks down into a number of things which can be explained. They are:
- Historically, have been obliged to respond and protect our fellow citizens in time of trial
- We have always had to train and drill in order to improve our skills at doing what we do
- We have always worked to love one another
- We must learn to tolerate one another
Let me suggest that each of us does what we have been trained to do. No one ever arrived at the front door of their fire station ready to roll out the door on emergency calls. We learned a little, then we learned some more, and then we built upon that basic learning with several layers of actual experience supplemented by additional layers of learning, relearning, and new learning.
One of the great changes in any organization comes about with the passing of generations. As the Chaplain of my fire company, it has been my privilege to conduct the Fireman’s Service for our department members for nearly 20 years now. I guess I was not paying attention to the world around me, but you can imagine how many services I might have conducted for our people who gone on to their reward.
Anyway, I can recall the day when my family and I were enjoying our annual Labor Day picnic. As I looked around assessing the crowd, I came to a startling conclusion. I was the old guy. While there were older members in the fire company than me, none of them were there that day. It sort of shocked me into assessing my own mortality and my role in the overall history of the Adelphia Fire Company.
Later that day as I sat on my porch enjoying a cigar, I began asking myself if I was doing all that I could to share my thoughts, experience, and traditions with our new members. I thought back to people in Adelphia, Newark, Rahway, and the U.S. Air Force who cared enough about the fire service to share what they knew little old me. I made it a point that day to begin working harder to help the new people as they came into the department.
Before I go any further, I want to suggest that I have been dragged kicking and screaming into the world of modern social media. I tweet and write on Facebook, but have not a clue as to how to use Instagram or any of the other multiple means of social interaction used by the millennial generation. If we are to reach out and grab the interest of the passing parade of millennials, we need to be able to justify what we do and explain it in terms which meet the needs of the younger folks.
The last thing we need if we are to succeed, are old-time screaming and yelling bosses acting like ‘my-way-or-the-highway’ fools. We must be able to meet, greet, and interact in ways that are acceptable, understandable, and meaningful to the people who will take our places when we age out of the business and go on to our reward. If we are to attract and retain new people we must be sure that we continue to pass on our positive traditions and train our people in the whys and wherefores of what we do.
You need to pass on your positive traditions through a conscious effort to educate your people on how reach out to, connect, and attract new members. Your people will only know what you teach them to do. You must train your folks to understand and share the love of your organization with others. You must train them to know what to say about your department and how to say it to others when seeking to get new members
I hesitate to say this, but there may actually be some organizations whose time has come and gone. There are not very many such example, but if yours falls into this category, there is no shame in owning up to this fact and striking the colors of your organization, folding the flag and tucking it into a museum somewhere. However, before doing this I would suggest that you see if there is a new mission you can adopt to breathe life back into your organization. The keys to success are:
- Make an honest assessment of what you do
- Hold a brainstorming session to solicit ideas
- Act on the ideas generated
- Do something
Tradition can be a good thing and a positive force for the success and propagation of your fire department. Sadly it can also be a negative weight which will drag your organization down and out of existence. Your fire department needs to quantify and qualify just what your traditions are now and what they should be going forward. You must then teach them to your folks. This will allow a common approach to the future which is a much better way of doing things. Primary among the lessons must be:
- Love
- Respect
- Tolerance
- Training
- Tasks
There is no sure formula for success. I can offer no guarantees that what I offer to you in this commentary will work. But what I can guarantee is that if you fail to try, your organization will fail to exist.
HARRY R. CARTER, Ph.D., CFO, MIFireE, a Firehouse.com Contributing Editor, is a municipal fire protection consultant based in Adelphia, NJ. Dr. Carter retired from the Newark, NJ, Fire Department and is a past chief and active life member of the Adelphia Fire Company. Follow Harry on his "A View From my Front Porch" blog. You can reach Harry by e-mail at [email protected].
