How many among you think about what the future will be like for you and your fire department? It is my hope that all of you will say yes. I say that because it has been my experience that far too many people have failed to think about the future, preferring to just let things happen. These folks end up being blown about like the fallen leaves in the fall; with no control over where they end up landing. My friends, let me assure you that this is no way to run a railroad. A failure to anticipate the future and plan for it can lead to some serious problems for you and the people with whom you serve.
There are those who seem firmly anchored in the present. I saw an interview on TV the other day with documentarian and historian Ken Burns. When asked about the context within how most people viewed history he stated that a great many people are, “… rooted in the present; the ever-present present provided by our 24-hour news cycle stations. He stated that people had to have an appreciation for the past. It is my contention that we all need to understand history so that we can understand how we all arrived at the seemingly comfortable today which I would hope that we are enjoying today.
However, it is also my contention that every day that we have ever lived has been tied on the one hand directly to a very comfortable past; one which we are hesitant to leave. But more importantly: the future is but a day away. Hence it is my belief that for all intents and purposes, the future begins today. Think about it. The future is happening to you as you read this commentary.
I was thinking about this very topic at the Adelphia firehouse not too many days ago. We were holding a drill on the use of our fire company’s foam capabilities and I felt that since I was a bit rusty on this aspect of our operations my attendance was important. Since I am familiar with the Class A foam system on our first-out pumper, I went with the group who was operating our pumper with the built-in Class B foam system.
It was a very interesting evening. The pumper worked quite smoothly and we were able to flow some really good foam. As the old guy I sort of laid back and let the younger lads gain some valuable experience. However, I also closely followed the procedure so that I could jump in if called upon to do so.
It was in the watching of the young folks at work that night that I began to think about the future of not only my department but of the fire service as a whole. If you follow the literature in our field you know that we are all have problems getting people from our communities to step forward and join with us as volunteers. Resources are being devoted to creating programs which will bring people to us.
One aspect of the evening’s events was particularly impressive to me. We here in Adelphia are blessed to have a very active junior firefighter’s program. Since I was part of the original committee that created our juniors program back in 1983, it was indeed a point of personal pride to watch the younger folks, both male and female, go through their paces. As a matter of fact these dedicated young people did all they could to be sure that my physical labor capabilities were not seriously taxed. Many times as I reached for a length of hose to drag it back to the pumper, the juniors would say to me, “… I’ve got that Mr. Carter.” It was my privilege to be able to share some clues with them on how to get things done in a safer and more efficient manner. A bit of coaching as it were.
Let me suggest to you that the success of our program can be measured by the number of regular members who started out in our junior firefighter program. More than one third of our members came up through the ranks of our juniors. As a matter of personal pride, my daughter Katie started out at age 14 as a junior member. She has now been fighting fire with the company for more than 15 years now. The same holds true with the officers in the fire company. Many are the ex-chiefs in our department who started out as juniors. As a matter of fact a great many of our younger life members stated out as juniors.
The point of this discussion is simple. You need to have a program in place which will allow you to reach out to the younger people in your community. I am fond of saying that we have to reach these young people before they find out about cars and girls (or boys). That is how it was with me when I started out as a cadet in the Freehold First Aid Squad back in 1964 when I was a junior in high school. While many of our young members seem to have joined to flesh in their resumes for college, a great many have remained with us and are extremely active. The membership has its peaks and valleys, but you have to stay with it so that there is a place for these active, young people.
Let me also suggest that you need to have a program in place to reach the people in your community who are in the 18-30 year-old age group. Here in Adelphia we have been most fortunate in that we have been able to recruit well. We have lost about a dozen members over the past few years. Our member intake rate has remained steady and we are holding at the 55-60 member level.
Unfortunately, many of our new members are not available during our critical daytime response period. Economics being what they are, many of the younger people who are starting families in our area need to work two jobs to afford our New Jersey taxes and cost of living. We must each do what we can to insure that our active members remain with us.
Perhaps the time is coming when we will need to migrate to a paid-on-call department. Think about it. If a person needs to work a second job, why not let the fire company be that job. We are not there yet in my department, but our long-range planning committee is keeping an eye on all things related to membership-related issues.
As I sat in the bucket seat of our old Mack pumper the other night, watching these young people at work, it really made me feel good. I felt like I was there at the beginning of our future here in the Adelphia Fire Company. It sure looks good to me.
