Amidst Decades of Declining Membership, Fire Departments Get Creative to Attract Volunteers

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Firefighters participate in a training exercise at the Chester County Public Safety Training Campus in Coatesville. Image via Tim Tai, Philadelphia Inquirer.

Fire companies nationwide are finding creative ways to attract volunteers in the hopes of reversing decades of declining membership, writes Michaelle Bond for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Fire associations in Chester and Delaware counties are among 20 fire and emergency medical services departments that have hired a marketing firm, Communication Solutions Group, for help.

“Whenever I speak to these fire departments, I say, ‘Have any of you worked in sales?’” said Leza Raffel, president of the Communication Solutions Group. “Usually they say no. And I say, ‘This is a sales job.’”

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Recent times have put additional difficulties on recruitment with fewer younger people joining. To combat this, fire departments are using open houses, rides-along, local advertising, and recruiting door to door when installing fire alarms.

The Chester County Fire Chiefs Association also profiled six mothers who volunteer as firefighters in time for Mother’s Day. Meanwhile, the Radnor Fire Company runs monthly profiles of its firefighters in a local magazine and is considering offering housing to volunteers.

And according to 84-year-old Dick Morris, a lifelong volunteer firefighter and a board member at the Concordville Fire Company, prom season is also filled with opportunities to recruit volunteers.

Read more about the effort to recruit firefighters in the Philadelphia Inquirer by clicking here.

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