PHOTOS: In the tiny mountain town of Florissant, Colorado, Fire Chief John Buchan shuffles through the stacks of papers on his desk.
“Oh, and these are just from last week,” he said, holding up four crisp, new applications from individuals hoping to become new fire department volunteers.
Across rural Colorado, as well as much of the nation, dwindling numbers of volunteers, ballooning bureaucracy and roller-coaster funding have become well-worn stories from frustrated communities as they watch volunteer fire departments slowly become a thing of the past.
Buchan said that’s not the case in Florissant — at least not anymore.
In less than a year, the former recruiting and retention manager for the Tontitown, Arkansas Fire Department said he’s been able to almost double the number of volunteers serving the Florissant Fire Protection District, from close to 30 to more than 60. And he said he’s done it without “going to the taxpayers.”
His secret? “I listened to the volunteers,” he said. “I listened to the reasons they weren’t happy — if you’re going to be doing something for free, you should at least be happy doing it.”
Buchan is the department’s only paid employee. But by mixing up the volunteer opportunities from just firefighter or EMT, being fully engaged and creating a fire house atmosphere people want to be in, he’s found somewhat of a secret sauce other departments could learn from, he said.
In a survey conducted by the National Volunteer Fire Council, volunteer fire departments often lose members due to leadership challenges, lack of resources, incentive concerns and time demands.
Buchan, who has been on the job just under a year, doesn’t disagree, but added that one of the biggest challenges he encountered was with the term “firefighter” itself.
“A lot of departments will say that they have 20, 30, or 40 firefighters on the roster, but are they really firefighters?” he said. “We’ve kind of stripped the title of firefighter because it was kind of a misconception.”
Florissant prefers the term “emergency responder” instead, reserving “firefighter” for many of its volunteers, citing more clarity in job function.
