About this episode

This episode discusses the challenges of recruiting and retaining on-call and volunteer firefighters in modern society.

In this episode, we explore one of the fire service’s most persistent challenges: how we recruit, retain and properly support on-call and volunteer firefighters in a world that has changed faster than the systems designed to sustain them. Joined by Brittany Hollerbach, Emelie Lantz and Dr Steve Sadler, we look beyond the usual “people don’t want to volunteer anymore” narrative and ask whether the real issue is that the model itself no longer fits modern family life, employment pressures...

People in this episode

Host: Pete Wakefield

Guests: Brittany Hollerbach, Emelie Lantz, Dr Steve Sadler

Topics covered

• firefighter recruitment
• volunteer retention
• support systems
• modern family life
• employment pressures

Keywords

• fire service
• volunteer firefighters
• retention systems
• recruitment challenges
• 21st century solutions

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Firefighter Podcast

More episodes of Firefighter Podcast

• #492 DEBRIEF: Glasgow School of Art Fire, Failure and the Hidden Highway · July 13, 2026 · 55 min
• #491 Modern Fire officer with Jared Vermeulen · July 6, 2026 · 1h 41m
• #490 High Rise Masterclass with Brent Brooks Ep 3 High Rise Search, Flow Path & Survivability · July 2, 2026 · 57 min
• #489 More Than Coffee: Rescue 1 & the Mission of Fire Department Coffee with Randy James · June 29, 2026 · 1h 35m
• #488 Firefighters with Parkinson’s: The Diagnosis No One Sees Coming · June 24, 2026 · 1h 11m
• #487 Mr Honest Work aka Jaguar Wattley · June 22, 2026 · 1h 11m

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Firefighter Podcast podcast page.