Firefighters in the United State - Research Proposal Example

Running Head: EXPERIENCE OF WORKING IN FIRE SERVICE Experience of Working in Fire Service [Name of the Author] [Name of the University] Abstract This study was set out to study the experiences of volunteer firefighters in the United State. The results of this study of reveals that firefighters majority belong to white males and they come from a broad range of occupational backgrounds. In addition, according to the results majority believe that this is their main volunteer role and that they are tightly committed to it. Furthermore, author relates characteristics of fire departments to volunteers and draws implications for the further elaboration of this voluntary role. Experience of Working in Fire Service Introduction Volunteer firefighters provide fire protection to three fourths of the geographical area of the United States. There are estimated to be a million of these individuals and about 25,000 volunteer fire departments in this giant sector of the U.S. fire service (National Fire Protection Association, 1986; Welter, 1986). These organisations date to the 1700s and count George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Paul Revere, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, Aaron Burr, and Benedict Arnold among their founding members (Smith, 1978). This old form of public service embodies the American values of democracy, patriotism, and grass roots organisational autonomy ( Jacobs, 1976, Perkins, 1987). Like most voluntary community organisations, volunteer fire departments emerge at the grass roots level. Communities aware of the need for fire service respond by creating their own firefighting unit with recruits from the local area. Members can be committed to altruistic service through a highly visible, action oriented team. For decades, these organisations have thrived on local community culture and support. However, forces now acting against this voluntary action have made it questionable whether the volunteer fire service can survive. The increasing urbanization and suburbanization that characterize modern society result in more calls for departments, while the demand for service has increased. In many areas, volunteer emergency medical squads now depend on firefighters to make the first response to medical calls. The percentage of farmers and shift workers is shrinking, which lessens the human resources available during daytime hours. Increased mobility among families takes potential recruits out of local communities. People moving in from urban areas often have little prior experience with volunteer departments and thus may never consider joining them. More organisations need and compete for the disposable time of potential volunteers. Finally, fire departments often do not know how to market themselves to potential recruits. In light of all these factors, the following questions are relevant: What is the human capital of the volunteer sector of the fire service, and what are the implications for recruitment and retention of volunteers? This report addresses these questions. Conceptual Grounding Smith’s (1981) distinction between voluntary organisations and volunteer organisations and his notion of pure volunteers are useful in describing volunteer firefighting. Smith wrote that the general term voluntary organisation (nongovernmental and not for profit in legal status and purpose) encompassed both the nonprofit organisation with a paid staff and the volunteer organisation. The former achieves its goals mainly through the efforts of paid staff rather than volunteers, even though volunteers are likely to be present at various levels of the organisation (Smith, 1981, p. 28). In the volunteer organisation, goals are mainly accomplished through the efforts of volunteers rather than paid staff (p. 29). Volunteer fire departments seem to fit neatly into the second category. Pure volunteers, Smith (1981,p. 23) said, would be individuals receiving no remuneration whatsoever while performing very valuable services.& dquo; The vast majority of firefighters fits this description, although some receive small stipends for each turnout, and others are eligible for pensions and tax breaks. A small minority of volunteer departments employ salaried firefighters. Combination departments often occur in locales that historically have had all volunteer departments but have undergone development to the point where either the number of calls has exceeded the capacity of volunteers or bedroom suburbs cannot supply the necessary daytime recruits. A typical arrangement is for volunteers to own the station and equipment but to employ paid people for first response, especially during daytime hours. Although this situation is cost effective, it is sometimes characterized by internal tensions between the often unionized employees and the volunteers. However it should be noted that even some urban areas have fully volunteer services (for example, Long Island, New York). This report focuses on the all volunteer departments and their members. Research Design The data for this study came from survey research involving a sample of 3,188 volunteer firefighters from 250 volunteer departments in five states. The percentage and count for firefighters by the selected states were: Alabama, 5.8 percent (187); Delaware, 7.6 percent (243); Minnesota, 48.3 percent (1,541); Oregon, 15.5 percent (495); and Texas, 22.6 percent (722). The states were selected for their diverse geographical location and for the likelihood that an adequate response rate could be obtained. Departments in each state were systematically selected by National Volunteer Fire Council directors. The response rate for departments was 65 percent. Questionnaires were administered by a department leader, most often a chief, at a regular monthly meeting. The questionnaire, which was developed during research on a sample of Virginia firefighters (Perkins, 1987a), contained both closed and open ended questions. Findings Attributes of Firefighters. The average age of firefighters was thirty-six years, with a mode of thirty. More than 60 percent were less than forty years old, while thirteen percent (431) were over fifty. Ninety-six percent were male, and 96 percent were white (3,079). The race variable was dichotomized into white and minority because the minority group percentages were so small (blacks: 0.3 percent (10): Native Americans: 0.5 percent (17): oriental: 0.1 percent (2): Hispanic: 2.4 percent (76): other: 0.4 percent (14). About 8.5 percent responded that they had not finished high school; 42.9 percent indicated that they had completed high school; 34.1% said that they had some college (exactly what kind of college is not known). A small minority (10.4 percent) were college graduates, and 4 percent had some graduate school credit. (These figures are consistent with the official state data for Virginia.) A question about the occupation of respondents revealed that 19.4 percent were in managerial and professional specialty occupations; 16.8 percent were in technical, sales, and administrative support occupations; 12.2 percent were in service occupations; 2.8 percent were in farming, forestry, or fishing jobs; 23.3 percent were in precision production, craft, and repair occupations; and 19.3 percent were operators, fabricators, or laborers. The remaining 6.3 percent were mostly retired individuals and students. Table I compares sex, race, educational level, and occupation with average age and years of service. Table 1. Sex, Race, Education and Occupation by mean age of Years of Service Age Years of Service N Sex Male 36.9 10.1 3079 Female 35.2 4.1 106     Race White 37.1 10.1 3064 Minority 31.8 5.7 119     Level of Education Grade School 49.9 12.9 54 Some high school 39.3 11.7 221 High school graduate 36.9 10.5 1364 Some college 35.4 8.9 1084 College graduate 36.2 9.1 330 Graduate school 41.7 9.9 128 Occupation   Managers, administrators, professionals 38.9 11 606 Technical, sales, support 36 9.4 523 Service 35.8 9.4 380 Farming, forest, fishing 37 7.5 86 Production, craft, repair 35.9 9.7 726 Operation laborers 35.7 9.2 602 Other 43.2 12.9 196 The first variable, sex, shows a mean age of 36.9 for males and 35.2 for females. The means for educational level show that the group with the highest average age had the least education (49.9 years for the fifty-four individuals with only grade school). As a group, managers, administrators, and professionals had the highest average age (38.9 years). Table 1 also shows that these individuals had the highest average number of years of service. Males had considerably more years of service than females (10.1 years compared to 4.1). Whites averaged 10.1 years of service, compared with 5.7 for minorities. Organisational Affiliation. Seventy three percent responded that they were not members of other volunteer organisations. Apparently for three-fourths of the sample, departmental membership represented the only recognized affiliation with a voluntary organisation. This finding may be explained in some localities by the fact that there were relatively few opportunities to join other groups. Possibly, many of the respondents did not think of certain organizations for example, churches as volunteer organisations. It is also plausible that the social and psychological components of the role of volunteer firefighter have a total effect on a person’s life. The responses to the open-ended questions indicated that sociability, self-development, meaningfulness, and excitement were rewards experienced through this role. The kind of organisation of which the remaining 26 percent were members was measured by asking the respondents to list other volunteer organisations in which they held membership. The categories were those used by Hougland and Christenson (1982) and Williams and Ortega (1986). The organisations most frequently listed were volunteer emergency medical service groups, civic service, and youth development organisations. Commitment. Volunteer firefighters appeared to be firmly committed to their role. The average number of years of service was ten, with 21 percent (688) having had sixteen years of service or more. The correlation coefficient between age and years of service was .77. Seventy percent responded that half or more of their close friends were fellow firefighters. Forty-three percent responded that they had become friends after joining the fire department, and 36 percent said that they were friends before they joined the department. (The others were not sure.) How did being a volunteer firefighter compare with being a member of a church or synagogue? This question assumed that a crude measure of attitudinal commitment could be achieved by comparing the firefighter role with that of churchgoer. (Level of religious activity was not measured.) Of those firefighters surveyed who were church members, nearly three-fourths identified their role as firefighters as being of equal or greater importance than their role within the church. Of this group, 25 percent responded that being a firefighter was more important than church membership. Firefighters were asked how often they seriously considered quitting the whole business of being a volunteer firefighter. Fifty percent said never. Nineteen percent responded seldom. Twenty-eight percent said sometimes, and 3 percent indicated often. No differences between how men and women or whites and minorities answered this question were found. Why did so many firefighters say that they had seldom or never seriously considered quitting this role? The answer relates to the idea that being a firefighter allows one to be committed to several powerful things at once: an action oriented primary group, meaningful service, and the local community. Also, since the fire department is often an all male club like organisation (Lozier, 1976), it can have an attractive fraternal character. It may be instructive here to consider Kanter’s (1972) study of commitment in communal life. Life in a volunteer fire department has distinct elements of community. Several of Kanter’s (1972) points about mechanisms that engender commitment are applicable. The encouragement of self-sacrifice, the opportunity to invest self in the organisation (Becker, 1960: Clark and Wilson, 1961), regularized group contact (monthly meetings, drills), rituals (competitive events with rival departments and intense training), and the ability of the organisation to transcend the mundane through lore and tradition are all mechanisms in the structure and process of being a volunteer firefighter that encourage commitment. Joining and Quitting. Firefighters were asked to rank attractions to their fire departments that had played a part in their decision to become a member. A list of items was supplied, and there was space for written in attractions. The items supplied were selected from the existing literature and the author’s continuing participation in a volunteer department for five years. There were five items: excitement, serving the community: having always wanted to be a firefighter; teamwork; and pension, benefits, and income. (In Minnesota, volunteer firefighters usually received pensions and other benefits after a certain number of years of continuous service.) The item about always having wanted to be a firefighter may sound odd. However, it was included because in an previous study (Perkins, 1987a) it was the second most often cited reason for becoming a firefighter and the reason most often cited as the second attraction of becoming a firefighter. To serve the community does not in itself reveal much about an individual’s motivations for joining a fire department, but it was necessary to include it, given the almost sacred goals of these organisations. Not surprisingly, service to the community was the item most often cited as the individual’s main reason for joining the fire department (62.4 percent). Excitement and having always wanted to be a firefighter received 12.3 percent and 11.7 percent, respectively. For the second reason, teamwork had the largest percentage (36 percent), followed by excitement (23.4 percent) and community service (21.4 percent). The items most often cited as the third reason for joining the department were excitement (31.4 percent), teamwork (26.3 percent), and having always wanted to be a firefighter (20.2 percent). The findings about service to community, excitement, and teamwork were the same as those of Woolley’s (1985) study of New Zealand firefighters. Interestingly, pensions, benefits, and income received the smallest percentage of responses (0.8 percent ranked it as first, 2.6 percent as second and third reasons). Why would members quit? Loss of interest, personality conflicts, time demands, too much supervision, too many rules and regulations, too much training, too dangerous, too hard work physically, and a blank for other were the response choices. Time demands (28.1 percent), loss of interest in firefighting (26 percent), and serious personality conflicts (17.8 percent) were the items most often cited as reasons why firefighters would quit. Characteristics of Departments. What were characteristics of the departments in this sample? (Only 134 of the 250 departments represented in the sample returned the separate questionnaire about departmental characteristics.) The average size was thirty-six members, with thirty the size most often reported. Ninety-seven percent defended areas no larger than small cities with populations between 10,000 and 49,999. The number of calls per year averaged 150. These findings are consistent with those of the National Fire Protection Association (Karter, 1985). In response to a question that asked department leaders to estimate the severity of turnover among members, 74 percent said that their department had little or no difficulty with this problem. The 26 percent who indicated difficulty with turnover should not be ignored. Discussion and Conclusion The volunteer sector of the fire service appears to be stable in terms of personnel. More research is needed, and the case study approach may prove particularly insightful in areas of economic expansion or contraction. Two recruitment pools women and minorities are not being adequately tapped by the volunteer fire service, although some individuals from these groups appear to be entering the service. The greatest obstacle for females and minorities is that fire departments are fraternal and that they have very strong group boundaries that are not easy to cross. Crossing boundaries costs time and emotional energy, and many females and minority individuals may not have these resources (Touraine, 1974). Recruitment must take the difficulties that these individuals experience in volunteering for the firefighter role into account. The human capital (age, education, occupation, and commitment) of volunteers in the firefighting service appears to be adequate to meet the demands of increased professionalism and administrative skills necessary to keep departments viable. The role of firefighter is a total role. It has an impact on many other important roles around which an individual organizes his or her self concept. Departments need to capitalize on the rewards inherent in this unique form of service. As social organisations, fire departments have immensely attractive features that can be marketed to a recruit pool. The exciting nature of the service, the fact that the firefighter is part of a team that does nontrivial work, and the tradition imbued symbolism of firefighter all present themes for recruitment programs. Given the many options for time investments, recruits need careful targeting. Departments cannot afford to wait for recruits to come to them. Aggressive recruitment of targeted volunteers, particularly daytime responders, would be a productive strategy. Departments must structure their activities so as to include all members, especially new recruits, and ensure that members’ expectations are channeled productively and that loss of interest in firefighting does not present an obstacle for retention. With an average number of calls around 150 per year, many departments have to be able to provide quality time. Training is one of the most meaningful downtime activities. Public relations programs and other lower level services, such as fire safety and inspections, should be promoted. Outreach efforts cost little but win many benefits in terms of departmental image, recruitment, retention, and financial support. References Becker, Howard S. (1960). Notes of the Concept of Commitment. American Journal of Sociology, 66, 2340. Clark, P. B., and James Q. Wilson. (1961). Incentive Systems: A Theory of Organisations. Administrative Science Quarterly, 6, 129166. Hougland, James G., Jr., and James A. Christenson. (1982). Voluntary Organizations and Dominant American Values. Journal of Voluntary Action Research, 11, 726. Jacobs, A. H. (1976). Volunteer Firemen: Altruism in Action. In W. Avens and S. Montague (eds.), The American Dimension. Port Washington, NY: Alfred Publishing Co. Kanter, Rosabeth Moss. (1972). Community and Commitment. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Karter, Michael J., Jr. (1985). Taking the Measure of the Fire Service. Fire Command, 52, 17. Lozier, John. (1976). Volunteer Fire Departments and Community Mobilization. Human Organisation, 35, 345354. National Fire Protection Association. (1986). Fire Control Digest, 13, 2. Perkins, Kenneth B. (1987a). Commitment and Community Among Volunteer Firefighters. Sociological Inquiry, 88(1), 120125. Perkins, Kenneth B. (1987b). Volunteer Fire Departments: Community Integration, Autonomy, and Survival. Human Organisation, 46(4), 342348. Smith, David H. (1981). Altruism, Volunteers, and Volunteerism. Journal of Voluntary Action Research, 10, 2136. Smith, Dennis. (1978). Dennis Smith’s History of Fire Fighting in America. New York: Dial Press. Touraine, Alain. (1974). Leisure Activities and Social Participation. In Michael Marrus (ed.), The Emergence of Leisure. New York: Harper & Row. Welter, Gus. (Secretary, National Volunteer Fire Council, Bloomington, Minnesota)(1986). Personal interview.Williams, J. Allen, and Suzanne T. Ortega. (1986). The Multidimensionality of Joining. Journal of Voluntary Action Research, 15, 3544. Woolley, J. W. (1985). Why Do Volunteers Join the Fire Service? Fire Engineers Journal, 45(137), 1517. Read More