2024 ANNUAL REPORT - Final

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VOLUNTEER FIRE & RESCUE SERVICES

This is a two-year program that includes both High School Juniors and Seniors. The Internship program offers, Fire Department Basic Orientation, CPR, Protective Equipment/Self Contained Breathing Apparatus, Hazardous Materials Operations, Firefighter and Emergency Medical and Rescue Courses. Upon graduation of the program, these volunteer members will have met both state and national certification requirements and the ability to respond to emergency incidents in their community. This year’s 2024-2025 Work–Based Learning Internship Program class has 14 students participating from High Schools around the county. 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 Volunteer Recruiter is primarily responsible to provide a centralized recruitment effort, which supports the 24 volunteer corporations. During the 2024 campaign, Frederick County Fire & Rescue Corporations gained many new operational, administrative and Fire Police members. The DVFRS and its member companies recognize the need to bolster membership levels. Recruitment efforts are conducted using direct mail flyers, mass media advertising (radio/television/social media) through attendance at many community events such as fairs, open houses, and school events. To ease the intake process for new members, DVFRS scheduled 6 new member orientation classes in 2024. This program is called “GEAR UP”. These orientation classes provide the volunteer member with information such as how to enroll for mission specific classes, CPR certification, personal protective clothing, fire department orientation, breathing apparatus, LOSAP, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, code of conduct and harassment awareness training. This program provides new volunteers the expectations of setting G oals, being E ngaged, being A ccountable, being R eady to take risks, 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. We continue to develop participation incentives tailored to the next generation of volunteer Firefighters and Emergency Medical Providers. Our recruitment campaign continues to raise awareness and encourages new volunteers to “Gear Up.” We continue to spread the message that volunteers are valued and needed more today than ever before in our fire/rescue services. 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.

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