THUNDER BAY — The recently-retired chief of a rural fire service near Thunder Bay has been invited to share some of the knowledge he gained on the job with fire chiefs from across North America.
Bill Pottruff served as fire chief in the Lappe area from 2006 until this year.
Five years ago, with the support of the Lappe and Area Local Services Board, he completed a Masters degree in disaster and emergency management, writing a thesis on the retention of volunteer firefighters.
This week Pottruff is presenting his findings at the International Association of Fire Chiefs annual conference in Dallas, Texas.
Pottruff said it's gratifying to get this opportunity, because he had always hoped that at some point other services would also be able to benefit from some of the things he learned in his research.
"I believe the international association has about 18,000 members, so it is a big deal. It's quite an honour, actually, to be picked to do this," he told Tbnewswatch.
Recruitment and retention pose challenges for volunteer fire services everywhere.
"Retaining these people is becoming more and more of an issue, operationally. There's just more and more demands that people have to meet other than volunteering...international borders don't change that," Pottruff noted.
His paper focused on retention, he said, because he always believed that the Lappe fire service "does a pretty good job of recruiting people, but sometimes struggles with keeping them long-term."
Pottruff came up with about ten recommendations, some of which he was able to implement in Lappe.
In doing the research, he consulted with members of 12 of the 13 volunteer fire services in the Thunder Bay region.
One critical issue that "popped" out at him, he said, was whether the needs of new recruits are being met within the first 12 months of their service.
"According to my research, that's where we're losing them. If we can get them past that first year, then chances are we're going to keep them for awhile."
Pottruff commented that, with 30 years of firefighting service behind him, he had "always thought we had them with the red lights and siren, but my research indicated that's not the case...If we don't give them solid training and show them that they can make the commitment that they want to make, they move on fairly quickly."
Several of the recommendations in his paper focus on the importance of fostering leadership skills for all volunteer chiefs, officers and others in leadership roles, through formal training.
"In the modern volunteer fire service, it is no longer enough for the chief to be competent," Pottruff said. Leadership requires effective "people" skills and needs to project a professional image and expertise.
He also made recommendations specific to volunteer training and engagement with the community.
Although he has stepped down as the chief, Pottruff continues to serve as the training officer for the Lappe fire department.
Link to original article in Tbnewswatch.com: Ex-Lappe fire chief makes presentation at international conference