The Volunteer Crisis

Volunteer firefighters are the backbone of the U.S. emergency response system, but since 2008, nearly 200,000 volunteers have left the fire service, a drop of almost 25 percent. To make things worse, calls to fire departments have increased about 70 percent since 2008, leaving the firefighters who remain to do much more with much less. Despite all of this, little research has been done to find the causes of this crisis and what to do about it. But that is starting to change. Today on the podcast, I am joined by Joe Maruca, a board member of the National Volunteer Fire Council, and Ken Willette, the executive director of the North American Fire Training Directors. Both men recently worked with researchers on a massive new study looking at what effects training requirements have had on volunteer fire department recruitment and retention. During the interview, we discuss the many factors that have caused volunteers to leave the fire service, and how volunteer departments are adapting to their new reality. We also talk about what is being done to help chiefs and communities bring more volunteers into the fire service. Links: Read the new Fire Protection Research report, "Understanding the Role of Training on Volunteer Firefighter Recruitment & Retention," coming at the end of February. Learn more about the National Volunteer Fire Council , and check out its new Make Me a Firefighter program , which matches volunteers with department needs. Learn more about the North American Fire Training Directors

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The Volunteer Crisis is an episode from NFPA Journal Podcast by NFPA.

This episode is 01:05:40 long.

This episode was published on Feb 10, 2026.

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