Following several months of deliberation and consultation, the report by the Volunteer Fire Service Task Force was submitted last Wednesday to the Minister of State and Minister for the Interior, Gérard Collomb, by the members of the Mission. This report, which can be downloaded from this page, sets out concrete and ambitious solutions to encourage the recruitment of volunteer firefighters, retain them and recognise their civic commitment, with the aim of reaching the 200,000 mark for volunteer firefighters as quickly as possible.
As the cornerstone of the French model for emergency response and crisis management, the volunteer fire service lies at the heart of the changes and pressures facing fire and rescue services (SIS), which are caught in a squeeze between stagnating staff numbers and a continuous increase in operational demands, both on a day-to-day basis and in exceptional circumstances, owing to their deep roots in local communities and the speed with which they respond to the public’s need for protection.
Sociological trends amongst volunteers
In the first part, this report assesses the state of volunteering following the three rounds of measures taken to support it since 1996, when the SIS were ‘decentralised’ to the departmental level.
He begins by analysing the sociological developments that are altering the various motivations behind volunteering as a firefighter, and which have led to a gradual shift in a section of the volunteer force away from its original model – that of altruistic commitment – towards a form of professionalisation.
Operating pressure
He then examines the impact on voluntary service of the changes taking place within the fire and rescue services: the developments in their remit which, over the last thirty years or so, have led firefighters to become the main providers of emergency rescue services to the public; but also the combined burden of operational pressure and the administrative demands of the fire and rescue services, such as the persistent difficulty in retaining staff during the first few years of service.
Finally, this report highlights the central role played by volunteer firefighters in certain major political issues facing our country:
- maintaining the accessibility and fairness of emergency services across the regions, where the fire service has often become the last resort for public services;
- the development of a society characterised by engagement, inclusivity and resilience in the face of recurring and escalating crises (climate change, terrorism, etc.), of which volunteers are both the embodiment and the ambassadors. It therefore emphasises the constant attention that must be paid to the impact of the institutional environment on volunteering: the combined weight of budgetary constraints affecting social services, the effects of ‘departmentalisation’ and territorial reforms on a form of volunteering closely linked to local government;
- but also the major threat to the very survival of volunteering and the republican emergency response system that would arise from classifying French volunteer firefighters as workers under European law, which therefore calls for decisive action by the public authorities at European Union level, as part of the effort to build a Europe that protects its citizens.
To refuse a "professionalisation of volunteers"
This analysis leads the delegation to call for our country to make a clear choice regarding the model of volunteering it wishes to adopt for the 21ste century.
It therefore recommends:
- to make a decisive break with the growing trend towards a voluntary sector that is becoming increasingly standardised and homogeneous in its composition and management
- and to reject any change in status towards the professionalisation of volunteering on a part-time basis – which would lead to the erosion and displacement of this resource – in order to make a clear and definitive choice to return to the very roots of volunteering as an altruistic and generous commitment.
The viability of this decision necessarily entails a strategic shift towards an ambitious expansion of the SPV workforce.
In the second part, the report identifies and reviews the five conditions which, according to the mission, are necessary for the success of this strategy:
- To facilitate the integration of SPVs into the operational structure and the evolving remit of the SIS;
- To pursue a new ambition through concrete measures: new, robust initiatives to boost appeal; seizing various opportunities, such as the future universal national service, to trigger a recruitment drive; widening access to the SPV scheme so that it reflects French society in all its diversity (women, young people, students, people from urban and suburban neighbourhoods, those with non-traditional profiles, people in their forties, etc.); support for employers who choose to recruit and facilitate the availability of SPVs; and the retention and fair recognition of staff at the various stages of their service;
- Launch a major simplification drive (recruitment, aptitude, training, etc.) to promote the widespread adoption of existing provisions and the dissemination of best practice;
- Breaking the taboo surrounding compensation, whilst establishing new regulations designed to encourage the use of on-call duty rather than fixed shifts, and to better reward, within a fair and harmonised framework, volunteer first-responders who choose to make themselves available, and put an end to the procedural abuses observed in the management of dual roles (professional and volunteer first-responders);
- Finally, to establish, amongst serving firefighters – following the example of several of our European neighbours – a reserve force attached to the SIS, working closely with the voluntary fire service network, comprising several components (notably: former firefighters, volunteer firefighters with limited availability, experts and PATS), tasked, on a voluntary basis, with supporting the public service during large-scale operations, backing initiatives to educate and raise public awareness of risks and life-saving techniques, and participating in community events.
These conditions form the five pillars – set out in 43 proposals – of an ambitious policy that combines flexibility and innovation, in support of the voluntary fire service, whose role is now recognised as requiring, in line with other security forces that rely on citizen involvement, to be elevated to the status of a genuine national public policy, equipped with strengthened tools for governance, communication and development between the State, local authorities and representatives of the volunteer fire service.