Firefighter recruitment video
I can’t believe how fast this year is going, we are back from fire school and it was a huge success! There were a lot of good comments, and not many quirks to set the committee back, a job well done again folks!! We have been fortunate to receive some very much needed rainfall in the western end of the state, but it is amazing how fast it comes and goes. I guess any is better than none, hopefully it will keep coming and it will stay green for a while.
The E board and the Fire School committee will meet in August and go over this year’s school and start working on next year’s budget. I hope everyone can attend, it is always a great way to spend a weekend with family and friends up in northwest Nebraska! After that we will be making our way to Kearney for the Memorial service on Sept. 21st and if you have never attended this event, I strongly recommend that you do, there is a lot of hard work that goes into putting this event on and it deserves all of our attention. After that we will be back in Kearney in October for our annual conference. Seems like the year just started and it is flying by!
The volunteer fire service is experiencing changes due to the new technologies, evolving training requirements, and a growing emphasis on safety and health. We are all facing challenges in recruitment and retention, but seeing innovation in areas of training and technology and community engagement. We tried something new in Chadron this year for recruitment and it seems to at the very least getting to some folks to see. We made a short 30 second video and sent a message that we need the community to help us. Please check it out on the Chadron Volunteer fire Department Facebook page. It has received over 15K views in a week. We are also using it in our movie theater, as a paid ad before the movie starts as another way to reach out to people in our area. Just some food for thought on how to get new folks in the fire service.
Stay safe and God Bless the Volunteer!
Scott Schremmer,
NSVFA President