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Regionalization,
Consolidation, The volunteer fire service in recent years has faced new challenges that nobody planned for, nor was it foreseen. VFD's are all facing dwindling numbers of recruited new volunteers, dwindling numbers of retained volunteers, and a dwindling pool of financial resources, yet there is an increase in the demands for training, regulatory compliance, homeland security concerns, performance standards, apparatus/equipment costs and fundraising. Historically, most VFD act independently of each other and independent of the elected officials in the communities they serve. There is also little coordination on the state levels, therefore manpower and funding are drying pools creating the conditions where once autonomous, prosperous and cooperative VFDs are now competitors...beyond the long tradition of what may have been previously a friendly and healthy sibling rivalry, to spar excellence in performance between companies. This has also increased the internal political and personalities stresses on VFDs, which further discourages firefighter recruitment and retention and generally lowers the quality of memberships, equally as it does the quantity of membership. These facts and conditions have led to a growing initiative to regionalize, consolidate and merge VFDs by many states. This is especially true in states like the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, who in June, 2005 released a study conducted by the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee, who followed up on the report prepared by the SR 60 Commission with various recommendations to address the issues and problems which are being experienced by VFDs in Pennsylvania, similarly as they are on a national basis. While there are no cookie-cutter solutions, because each department, community, region and state face their own unique sets of challenges, facts, needs and issues; the remediation of the concerns all VFD are facing will require a simultaneous top down and a bottom up approach. With these processes, there may be similar characteristics and practices for solutions that may apply to all VFD. At VFD-Funding, we are looking at these issues and solutions seriously. As we work with VFDs, we are looking to follow the recommendations and findings of the various studies to devise some form of "Best Practices Guidebook", which will contain numerous alternatives for local VFDs, their community leaders, and at the state level to consider to address the challenges for manpower, funding, increased demands, and the continued excellence of services delivered by volunteer firefighters. We're also looking at how we can help local VFDs and their communities to address issues of volunteer recruitment/retention, co-operation for funding, selecting non-duplication of services/apparatus/equipment, and taking a more regional approach to training/drilling with each other, to immediately address the personnel and funding shortages. Co-operation for funding may not only include each department assisting the others with the certification of need (required by most grants), but also planning on apparatus/equipment selection and this to lead to more planning generally. As we go through this process with our client VFDs and communities, we will post links here of the research findings of others, news, and case studies of successes in the processes of regionalizing, consolidating, and merging VFDs. If you have any information, case studies or experiences with a regionalization or consolidation of VFDs, please contact us and give us your input. Regardless, we hope that you visit back here often, as we will continue to address and post information on this very serious and relevant topic and perhaps we all may collectively devise a comprehensive solution. Last modified: August 07, 2008
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