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FFIC hosts 5th annual virtual summit on strengthening volunteerism

Feb. 27, 2024, Canada – Fire Fighting in Canada hosted its fifth annual virtual summit on Feb. 21 with the theme of recruitment, retention and succession.

In the opening session, Shaminda Perera, Volunteer Canada’s knowledge, practice and learning lead, discussed the state of volunteerism across the country, sharing data from a 2018 Statistics Canada survey on giving, volunteering and participating that showed declining volunteer numbers. Perera said the pandemic further contributed to the drop in volunteer numbers.

Specifically in the fire fighting sector, recent data collected for the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs’ (CAFC) 2023 Great Canadian Fire Census estimates nearly 9,500 volunteer firefighters left the fire sector. Between 2016 and 2023, the number of volunteer firefighters dropped from 126,000 to 89,000.

“The pandemic gave an opportunity for organizations to really look at their existing volunteer engagement strategies and to revise and enhance it if it needs to be revised and enhanced,” Perera said, leading the conversation towards the topic of how fire departments in Canada can strengthen volunteer engagement by using the volunteer engagement cycle.

Each of the four stages in the cycle — plan, engage, support, and recognize — offer opportunities for fire leaders to strategically approach how they engage with potential volunteers. Practical steps for volunteer management include having a strategic focus and a data-driven engagement approach that fosters a collective impact and designs meaningful experiences for new recruits is how fire departments can build credibility and drive impact.

North Frontenac Fire Chief Eric Korhonen shared in the second session how he is working to address the volunteer challenges he faces using community-based strategies. One of the things his department did in 2018 was change the way firefighters at different stations were interacting and the way they train together. Korhonen also worked with council to implement a tiered hourly wage system.

Since then, the department continues to build on those initial strategies. It also provides the mandatory level of certification and the opportunity for continuing education. In terms of retention, Korhonen said the focus is still on continuing education and hiring internally.

Rounding off the event, audience members watched a special Volunteer Vision edition of Fire Fighting in Canada: The Podcast with Volunteer Vision co-authors Ret. Fire Chief Tom DeSorcy and Fire Chief Vince MacKenzie, who discussed the state of the volunteer fire service, CAFC census data, how the volunteer fire service has changed over the years, and the need for more federal support. They also touched on the importance of fire associations and recruitment and retention.

Fire Fighting in Canada would like to thank gold sponsors Nederman and Vector Solutions, and bronze sponsor Air Technology Solutions, for their support of a timely conversation on volunteerism.