and it's a chronic problem in the volunteer services.
In America, last time I checked, there were 2,200,000 firemen alone in the country. Of those 2.2 million, 200,000 were career firemen. I'm ignoring ambulance for this, because I don't have figures for it.
In NY state, there is a problem with recruiting folks to help with the fire departments, because "I don't have time." That's the most common answer I get. "I've got volley ball on Wednesdays." Wednesdays is our drill night. There is no good night for these folks to show up.
Then they tell us what a great job we do when we make a save, or scream when their insurance rates go up, because the area we live in isn't hydranted. But they don't show up, even for an open house, when we're trying to recruit folks to come around.
It's not the training requirements, its the "get off the couch" requirements that are stopping people from joining.
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I don't know,
Date: 2012-07-21 08:15 pm (UTC)In America, last time I checked, there were 2,200,000 firemen alone in the country. Of those 2.2 million, 200,000 were career firemen. I'm ignoring ambulance for this, because I don't have figures for it.
In NY state, there is a problem with recruiting folks to help with the fire departments, because "I don't have time." That's the most common answer I get. "I've got volley ball on Wednesdays." Wednesdays is our drill night. There is no good night for these folks to show up.
Then they tell us what a great job we do when we make a save, or scream when their insurance rates go up, because the area we live in isn't hydranted. But they don't show up, even for an open house, when we're trying to recruit folks to come around.
It's not the training requirements, its the "get off the couch" requirements that are stopping people from joining.
And we have no idea how to fix that.
--Hawk