Iowa SAFER Volunteer Firefighter Recruiting and Retention Project The project contains a number of practical ideas that may fit your community.
Providing ideas for Fire Department leadership to attract and keep its most precious resource, people. Iowa's fire and emergency response departments face some big challenges staffing their departments. They are based on this simple premise: The most effective way to get volunteers (recruit) is to keep (retain) the ones you already have. Your current volunteers will be your best recruiters. The g
oal of this regional training program is to provide retention and recruitment educational opportunities to the 872 fire departments of Iowa and fire departments throughout FEMA Region VII including Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri. This goal will be accomplished by offering two, 3-hour educational programs that will be delivered a minimum 35 times in Iowa over a four-year time period. Deliveries will be provided at state and regional fire schools, regional training centers, county fire associations and where needed to individual fire departments in a specific local. Additionally, handoff programs for the two courses will be conducted for the FEMA Region VII state training agencies in Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska with the intention of these agencies delivering the program in their respective states. The project is funded through a S.A.F.E.R. (Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response) Grant in cooperation with the Iowa Firefighter’s Association and the Iowa Fire Service Training Bureau. The grant is administered by the Iowa Firefighters Association. SAFER GRANTS: http://www.fema.gov/firegrants/safer/index.shtm
