Motivating fire service personnel to participate as active members of a technical rescue team can be very challenging. This includes all ranks. Further, fire chiefs and other administrators must also maintain support for events that are often very infrequent.

This is especially true when participation as a team member is voluntary and team leaders must pay attention to recruitment and retention. For firefighters to accept extra assignments, the work must be attractive and appropriately rewarded—and not just financially. What gets supported and rewarded gets done.

Think about what might happen if someone got to practice a sport every day but never got to play in a game. There would be no way to feed the competitive juices and most, if not all, participants would forgo the practices and look for a different pastime. As an example, I was recently talking to a high school football coach. We were discussing the decline of participants in the sport, and we talked about some of the reasons. There is more concern for concussions, competition from more sports, year-round requirements, and others. One thing the coach mentioned was the challenge to get players to practice every day when there was only one game per week. There is also a lead-up time where there are weeks of practice before the first game is even played. He opined that kids playing sports want to play the games, not just practice, and in other sports there are more opportunities to compete. This certainly is something to think about, whether a sport or being part of a special rescue unit that rarely gets to “compete.”

CHIEF SUPPORT

For specialty teams to be successful, there must be enthusiastic support from the top of the organization, including the chief of department and senior staff. They cannot pay lip service to this and must communicate to the entire department that positions on the team are valued and will be supported. I have known chiefs who are the opposite, and their member participation leaves much to be desired. Those who truly value team membership do better with recruitment and retention. They show their support overtly and do not quibble when training arises. They don’t deny training opportunities by hiding behind staffing issues. There is a difference for those with legitimate issues and those who are not supportive.

There are some chiefs who personally don’t support the efforts of special rescue teams and membership. They may tolerate them if they have no choice but may also question whether the expense is worth the payback if their community has no history of needing such service. This is shortsighted in that not too many communities routinely need special teams. But when the call arises, having properly trained firefighters will be worth the effort. This can be challenging in communities strapped for resources, but I am aware of cases where this was not the issue, but the chief opted out anyway. This is not an approach to take if you are looking for people to volunteer.

GETTING THE RIGHT PEOPLE

As is the case with any job, you have to start with talent and those who are interested in the work. This begins