Ron Cheves

Fire Chief (Ret), International Association of Fire Chiefs, VCOS Section

Donna Black

Dan Eggleston

Friday, August 9, 2013
11:45am – 1:15pm

This presentation was developed to update The Red Ribbon Report written in 2005 by members from the Volunteer & Combination Officers Section of the International Association of Fire Chiefs.

As the demand for services outpace a department’s ability to deliver service, many departments begin the natural transition from fully volunteer to some form of a combination system.

The pace of the transition and problems encountered during the process varies and often depends on the leadership’s ability to recognize and deal with change.

Volunteer departments have a number of service delivery options before considering hiring their first paid employee. However, leaders must know when the transition process must begin.

There is no standard approach to transition from a volunteer to a combination department, but there are a variety of strategies that have been successful in many communities.

Through an interactive process including case studies, this session will share several of those successful strategies and allow participants to engage in discussions to determine how they may apply experiences to address their department needs.

Recognize the signals of change that would warrant the transition. Understand the issues and obstacles from an internal and external perspective resulting from the decision to transition.

Identify the team members that would be involved in the assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation phases of transition. Be aware of the common pitfalls and issues surrounding the process to transition.