Recruitment and retention of volunteers: rural fire services' issues and initiatives

Rural fire services throughout Australia are heavily dependent on volunteers to respond to fires and related emergency incidents. Maintaining adequate numbers of volunteer firefighters is thus essential to the protection of people, property and the environment in areas vulnerable to bushfires. Australian rural fire services are very aware of their dependence on volunteers. This report is based on information provided by fire service personnel. It: (1) summarises the present situation of volunteer firefighter numbers in Australia; (2) describes potential longer-term threats to volunteer firefighter numbers; (3) discusses important current issues affecting volunteer recruitment and retention as identified by fire services; (4) describes initiatives introduced recently, or being planned, by fire services to address issues involving volunteer recruitment and retention; and, (5) offers some observations about aspects of volunteer recruitment and retention which have emerged during the process of gathering information from fire services for the report.

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