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Hello Chief / Admin / Firefighter

How prepared is your volunteer fire department for some of the administrative and organizational challenges of 2025 and beyond?

NOTE: You can use this anonymously, but also know that nothing will be published about your VFD.

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Are you NERIS aware, and #NERIS-ready?👇

Are you aware that after 50 years, NERIS (National Emergency Response Information System) replaces NFIRS in 2025? NFIRS closes at the end of 2025.

Unaware

We are working on NERIS

Aware & Monitoring

We've assigned a #NERIS-Ready representative

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Do you have an admin or is Chief pushing paper?👇

Fire departments where Chief is pushing paper may be missing out on time Chief could be spending mentoring, and strengthening department mission readiness.

We are figuring out how to recruit one

We are actively recruiting an Admin

No Administrator

We have an Admin who rocks!

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Have you completed your NFIRS to date, and for past years?👇

NERIS will NOT accept 2022, 2023, 2024 incidents, and grant applications often demand three years of reporting history.

We are actively entering 2024 NFIRS

We are up to date on NFIRS for all years!

We don't file NFIRS

We are figuring out how to do this

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Have you planned your firefighter recruitment for 2025? 👇

Recruitment is getting harder in today's world, what are you doing to grow your ranks?

We mostly recruit through word of mouth

We actively ask our community for recruits

We run serious recruitment campaigns

We haven't found time to focus on recruitment

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Are your firefighter retention programs set for 2025? 👇

Recruitment is great, but retention is as critical. Retention starts with good leadership and training programs, but it is so much more.

We haven't found time to focus on retention

We design serious retention efforts into our department for all our membership

We make time, semi-regularly, to work on retention for the whole team

We work with each firefighter as needed

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What are you doing for continuity? 👇

Operational continuity is critical to volunteer fire departments, especially as firefighters age. Do you have your next generation of officers? Are you mentoring them to grow?

We work with firefighters on an individual basis

We train active firefighters in officer duties, and replace officer positions as needed

We have programs were junior officers shadow senior officer, with continuity in mind

We've not found time for continuity planning

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What are your plans for Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) in 2025? How will you up your training 👇

Organizing training is one of the hardest jobs for volunteer fire departments, and it takes commitment to keep it fresh & improving.

We schedule training well in advance, publish the schedule, mandate attendance on burn houses, do AARs, promote extra curricular training, and engage the firefighters in the plan

We schedule regular trainings

We schedule regular training, do AARs, and offer extras like burn houses & auto extrication classes

We schedule regular training, and do AARs after challenging calls

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What are you doing for member/firefighter communications, when NOT on calls? 👇

In today's volunteer fire department firefighter / membership communications is critical to engagement & cohesion.

We provide & manage a team communications platform (Group Me, Slack, etc.) where any member can freely communicate.

We (group) text message each other, when needed

Officers manage a group email list or group text, sharing department information & updates

We don't have a department communications solution

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How do you protect your firefighters during / after a (structure) fire? 👇

Today's structure fires / fires involve ever increasing synthetics, and produce significant carcinogens that are hazardous to firefighter health. Firefighters must be protected both during and after the fire.

We educate our firefighters, gross decon and bag dirty PPE on scene

We educate our firefighters, gross decon, provide wipes, and bag PPE on scene

We educate our firefighters on the risks, and gross decon on scene, but don't mandate any further actions

We educate, gross decon, keep clean cabs, provide wipes & decon kits & bag PPE on scene

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Are you aware of the OSHA proposed Emergency Response Standard? 👇

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to modernize the agency’s “Fire Brigades” standard with a proposed new “Emergency Response Standard.”

Aware and monitoring

Unaware

Actively participating with my local, state and country-wide fire organizations

Actively providing public comment feedback

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WANT IDEAS? If you'd like helpful resources tailored to your answers, please let us know where to send them.

Responserack can help you get your volunteer fire department more prepared for 2025. Let us help you with ideas to make progress for your VFD for 2025.

First Name

Last Name

Fire Department

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Thank you for reviewing some of your department readiness for 2025.

Your fire department's readiness is at:

Result: @Score out of 50.

( Don't overthink the number too much, this is just a simple quiz to stimulate some 2025 thinking. :-) )

Contact [email protected] if you'd like helpful resources from Responserack on how to make progress with any of this.

Remember: Volunteer Fire is a team activity, best done together ... so engage your firefighters, your fire family, and your community to build for your 2025.

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