Dear Volunteer Firefighter Recruiter:

Why are so many communities relying on Volunteers for their firefighting forces? It’s pretty simple, really. To maintain personnel in a paid service costs taxpayers well over $1 million dollars per year – per truck – in payroll and insurance.

- Over 74% of all fire fighters in the U.S. are volunteers.
- The number of volunteer firefighters in the U.S. has declined by over 8% since 1984.
- The number of calls have increased by 275%.
- Communities everywhere are cutting budgets in an effort to ease today’s economic burdens.

But, you know this already.

If you’re responsible for recruitment and retention in your department or association then you know this already, but how do you get this message out to your community? How do you make your local government understand that cutting back on services or budgets isn’t the answer? How do you convince local businesses to stand behind you? And, how can you keep your numbers strong when less and less people are volunteering?

Canned Fire Recruitment and Retention Materials

Beginning in 2010, a dedicated team of 'Vollies', business leaders and a marketing professional put their collective heads together to answer these questions. The result? The "We're The Ones" recruitment and retention program. Since its launch, this program has been tried and proven successful in some of the most difficult areas in the country.

We named the program, Canned Fire, and are now offering these materials, with limited customization for nominal production costs, to departments and associations across the country. They've been proven successful in the real world and we want to share them with our brothers and sisters around the country.

To learn how your department can make these materials your own, click here.