OK, here's the spinoff thread.

The question is, how do we attract new volunteers to staff our volunteer fire / EMS / or other agencies? Having a prepared community certainly helps if you have a personal emergency!

For those of you who volunteer, why? What got you to take the initial step? What could your agency do to make your service easier?

For those of you who live in an area served by volunteer emergency services who do not volunteer, why not? What would get you to do so? What would your biggest concern be?

Let's have an open discussion and see if we can't come up with any ideas on how to bring some new blood into the volunteer emergency services. The national trends are that the volunteer are getting older and harder to find, and if trends continue, the long tradition of volunteer service may die out.

I look forward to your thoughts.