2023 ANNUAL REPORT-FINAL

77

VOLUNTEER FIRE & RESCUE SERVICES

Volunteer Recruitment

The Division of Volunteer Fire and Rescue Services and the Frederick County Volunteer Fire and Rescue Association continues to provide a centralized recruitment effort, which supports the twenty-five volunteer corporations. During the 2023 campaign, Frederick County Fire & Rescue Corporations gained over 132 new operational, administrative and Fire Police members. All volunteers serve an important role by assisting with incident response, managing operations, running intradepartmental affairs, and fundraising efforts to help pay for expenses such as fire stations, apparatus, and basic operational needs. All the aforementioned tasks are necessary to provide a high-quality fire, rescue and emergency medical service to the citizens and visitors of Frederick County and our mutual aid counties. Frederick County volunteer fire and rescue companies have varying levels of active membership. Some continue to operate with an all-volunteer membership while others have taken on a combination service model with career personnel assigned to help sustain a consistent operational response. There are many suspected reasons for this transition. Many households require multiple incomes to maintain financial livelihood. Increases in training hours, time committed on incidents, numbers of responses and outside elements such as family commitments have played a major role in volunteer fire department sustainability threatening our historically volunteer system. The Division of Volunteer Fire and Rescue Services and its 25 member companies recognize the need to bolster membership levels. Recruitment efforts are conducted using direct mail flyers, mass media advertising (radio/television/social media) and through attendance at many community events such as fairs, open houses, and school events. Our citizens need to know being a first responder affords a volunteering opportunity like none other with the greatest strength being a fire service family. To ease the intake process for new members, the Division scheduled 6 new member orientation classes. These trainings provide the member with information such as how to enroll for mission specific classes, CPR certification, personal protective clothing, fire department orientation, breathing apparatus, LOSAP, HIPAA, code of conduct and harassment. The program provides new volunteers the expectations of setting G oals, being E ngaged, being A ccountable, being R eady to take r isks, U nderstand job requirements and to P repare oneself to perform the job (GEAR UP). Participant evaluations have proven that the program provides a valued introduction and overview for the newly inducted volunteer. Recruitment and Retention continues to be problematic due to the ongoing community demands for service. Our goal is to ensure effective leadership development through training and mentoring of our new volunteer members. At the same time, ensuring we are developing participation incentives tailored to the next generation of volunteer Firefighters and Emergency Medical Providers The Frederick County Volunteer Fire and Rescue Services recruitment campaign continues to raise awareness and encourages new volunteers to “Gear Up.” Through many different outlets, we continue to spread the message that volunteers are valued and needed more today than ever in our emergency service. Volunteers work very hard to provide life safety and property protection services to our residents. We are thankful for our volunteers, and we appreciate their commitment and time to our community. “You need us. WE want you.”.