Evergreen Remodels Volunteer Fire Program

EVERGREEN CO
January 16, 2025

For Evergreen resident Andrew Cullen, volunteer firefighting has fulfilled a deep need to give back to his community.

“It’s been one of the most rewarding things I’ve done,” said Cullen, who joined Evergreen Fire/Rescue as a volunteer in August 2023. “I discovered a love for firefighting, rescue and more. I don’t know that there are too many comparable experiences for a volunteer role.”

But gratifying as it is, it is also a time-intensive pastime he juggles with the rest of his life. Cullen is married, a new father, and works full-time at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. All those demands make volunteering “challenging,” he said.

He’s far from alone. A study conducted on volunteer firefighter burnout showed emotional demands and home life are the two leading reasons firefighters become disconnected with volunteer service, according to the Volunteer Firefighter Alliance.

The impact is clear and alarming. The number of volunteer firefighters nationwide has declined for the last three decades, hitting a record low in 2020, according to the National Fire Protection Association. Yet with population growth and a rising demand for emergency services, the need has never been greater. 

To that end, EFR recently revamped its volunteer program from the ground up, employing a marketing program to screen new recruits and adding a points system, financial rewards and flexible scheduling for its current volunteers.

While the changes are in their fledgling stage, EFR volunteers and leaders already see signs they’re working.

EFR sharply altered its approach to recruiting new volunteers, hiring a marketing company to help it more carefully target applicants. It puts emphasis on the quality and suitability of recruits over quantity. And that’s an important distinction because enrolling in an EFR fire academy is not for the faint of heart.

The 10-month program includes about 12 hours of mandatory weekly training and regular exams in a wide array of firefighter specialties, including hazardous materials, wildland firefighting, emergency medical responses, rescue and the incident response.

“The last few years, we’ve had more of a philosophy of quota-filling and we had a 40-50% attrition in the academy,” said EFR Captain Clarissa Boggs-Blake, president of the district’s volunteer division. “We really changed that model this year and focused on whether we thought the candidates would be a good fit.”

EFR interviewed 20 fire academy candidates and extended offers to 11 of them, a significant drop from previous years. But while the current fire academy is smaller, Boggs-Blake believes these participants are more likely to stay with EFR. In the long run, that cuts costs and creates a higher-quality team.

“We feel confident in the quality of candidates we hired, and that they really want to be here,” she said. “I’m excited to see how that affects our success rate.”

Boggs-Blake said the tools the marketing firm taught EFR can be used again to screen for future recruits.

On Jan. 1, EFR introduced a redesigned volunteer program that it hopes will help solve the issues that lead to volunteer attrition. Created largely by volunteers, it gives individual points and financial rewards for the service they provide, and most importantly  — flexibility.

“We realized that the volunteers’ ability to give to the organization has changed over time,” said EFR Chief of Operations Kris Kazian. “The volunteer mantra of 1980 is not the same as 2025. Everyone’s busy. Kids are in multiple sports. You don’t leave your job at 5 p.m. anymore and just come home; it follows you through texts and emails. We need to find a way to fit into that schedule.

“We can’t mitigate emergencies without bodies on each call, but we wanted to create a better situation for our responders, and an organization more practical and focused on outcomes.”

EFR has about 80 volunteers, and while it recently hired its first six paid firefighters, it is not on track to become a fully paid fire agency.

“There’s no plan to move toward an all-career department,” Kazian said. “Our focus is how can we make the system work today.”

Among the changes under the new program, volunteers can choose whether they’d like to respond to fires or emergency medical calls — instead of training for both.

“We’ve broken it up so you’re not (necessarily) going to a 9- to 10-month academy and being an all-hazards volunteer,” Chief Mike Weege said. “If you want to just do wildland, if you want to just do EMS, there’s a place for you here and you don’t have to do all the training. It allows people to do what they can do versus forcing them to fit into our box.”

It also allows volunteers to respond to calls based on their geographic area. Under the system, the 126-square-mile district is divided into north and south, with Evergreen Lake as the midpoint. A volunteer can make him or herself available and designate “north” or “south,” then respond to calls within their area. The system saves volunteers the longer drives and time needed to respond to calls far from their homes, but it also provides for a true neighborhood response.

“This helps keep the responder at their home, in their neighborhood, in the remote areas where they make a huge difference,” Kazian said. “We know someone’s going to get there quickly, take commands, help us make decisions.”

Volunteers signing in when they are available also provides reassurance for the entire department. EFR recently hired six paid firefighters who work in pairs on separate shifts. Because fires, major accidents and other incidents require teams of responders, each pair of paid firefighters still needs volunteers to respond to calls.

“Now a call happens on the south end of town and there are 4-5 people in this system, so we know we’ve got 4 or 5 people guaranteed that are available,” he said. “In the past, the bell rang and we didn’t know who was going to show up.”

The new system showed its merits during a Jan. 4 structure fire. Because volunteers had indicated who was on call, “We knew who was coming and we knew what rigs were on the road,” said EFR Assistant Chief Stacee Martin.

Volunteers also have the option of shifting from home rather than at the fire station. For those who work full-time jobs and have families, that’s critical.

“Last night was the first time I shifted from home, which is a new option,” Cullen said on Jan. 6. “With a newborn, I can’t at the moment spend 12 hours at the fire station. Being able to be home, yet respond to calls. and being able to respond to half the district really works well for me. It really meets me where I’m at.”

It’s similar for EFR Assistant Fire Chief Stacee Martin, an 18-year volunteer who works full-time as the director of public affairs for the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. Working at home or elsewhere allows

“I’m on shift today for the north side, and I’m working from home,” she said. “It’s a nice balance with my day job. Sometimes you can hang out at a firehouse for six hours and nothing happens, and you feel you’re not contributing. I think this provides a good balance; it meets the needs of the firefighters.”

And those who can work shifts at the station are also rewarded.

“We created a value for crewing,” Kazian said. “We’ve incentivized the stay-in-your-neighborhood response and the come-to-the-fire-station-and-work time. Getting people on the truck when the bell rings has an incredible amount of value. So we award more points when you crew.”

EFR tracks its volunteers’ contributions on a point system that translates into dollars.

“At the end of the day, the points have a financial value to the volunteer,” Kazian said. “A small stipend is paid to volunteers for their time to offset the cost of fuel and maintenance on their vehicles. This gives us an ability to reward the volunteer.”

To meet that change, the district board designated additional funds.

Volunteers can make a maximum of $17,000 annually — or 20% of a full-time firefighter’s pay and benefits, Kazian said.

“We have a few people that work a lot of hours, but most of our volunteers (will be) nowhere near that,” he said.

While the changes are in their earliest days, volunteer Cullen likes what he’s seen.

“Getting credit, being recognized for what we do, I think it’s going drive more engagement, plus more awareness of who’s running calls that day,” he said. “The leadership team is listening. I appreciate that.”

 Kazian said volunteering as a firefighter is a unique experience and needs to be treated as such.

“Many people volunteer in many organizations, but the demand is not where your life or other people’s lives are dependent on it,” he said. “We’re trying to find a way to enhance their experience and meet them where they’re at.

“We haven’t lessened our standards. We’re just giving them different opportunities to engage and be a kinder, gentler yet truly accountable organization.”

Canyon Courier