Combination Departments: Making Career and Volunteer Members Work as One Team

I have worked in a combination department. I have seen the tension firsthand. The career members think the volunteers do not train enough, do not show up consistently, and drag down the overall capability of the department. The volunteers think the career members are arrogant, dismissive, and have forgotten what it means to serve without a paycheck. Both sides have legitimate grievances. Both sides contribute to the problem. And the people who suffer most are the citizens who depend on a fire department that is too busy fighting with itself to function at its best.

Combination departments, organizations that use both career and volunteer personnel, are one of the most common operational models in the American fire service. They are also one of the most challenging to manage effectively. The friction between career and volunteer members has been a persistent issue in the fire service for decades, and it has derailed more departments than any budget crisis or equipment failure ever has.

But here is the thing. I have also seen combination departments that work beautifully. Where career and volunteer members operate as a seamless team, respect each other, and produce outcomes that neither group could achieve alone. The difference is always leadership. Always. If you are running a combination department or serving in one, this is how you make it work.

Understanding the Friction

Before you can fix the career-volunteer divide, you have to understand where it comes from. The friction is not random, and it is not just personality conflicts. It stems from fundamentally different relationships with the job.

Career firefighters work scheduled shifts. They are at the station for 24 hours or more at a time. They train during their shifts. They run calls all day and all night. They depend on the department for their livelihood. Their identity is deeply tied to the profession. When they see someone who does not train to the same standard, does not respond consistently, or does not perform at the same level, it feels like a threat to their safety and their professional identity.

Volunteer firefighters have day jobs. They give up their personal time, their weekends, their holidays, and their sleep to respond to emergencies and attend training. They are not getting paid, or if they are, the stipend is negligible compared to the hours they invest. When they show up and get treated as second-class members by the career staff, it is demoralizing. They are literally volunteering their time to serve the community, and being treated as less-than because they do not have a badge number and a W-2 is insulting.

Both perspectives are valid. Career members have a right to expect that everyone on the fireground meets a certain competency standard. Volunteer members have a right to be treated with respect and dignity. The challenge for department leadership is creating a system that addresses both of those legitimate needs.

The International Association of Fire Chiefs at iafc.org has a Volunteer and Combination Officers Section that specifically addresses the challenges of leading combination departments. Their resources include best practices, case studies, and leadership development materials tailored to the combination model.

Setting One Standard

The single most important thing a combination department can do is establish one operational standard that applies to every member, regardless of whether they are career or volunteer. Not a career standard and a volunteer standard. One standard.

This means that every member who is going to ride on a fire truck and operate on an emergency scene meets the same minimum competency requirements. Same training certifications. Same skills proficiency. Same physical fitness expectations. Same operational protocols.

Does this mean volunteers have to complete the same training as career members? Yes, it does. The fire does not ask whether the firefighter holding the nozzle is getting a paycheck. The victim trapped in a car does not care whether the person operating the extrication tool is career or volunteer. The standard of care is the same, so the standard of training must be the same.

Now, I recognize that meeting this standard is harder for volunteers because they have less time available for training. That is a real constraint, and the department has to accommodate it. Offer training at times that work for volunteers. Evening and weekend classes, online learning modules for the didactic content, and flexible scheduling for hands-on skills sessions. Make it possible for volunteers to meet the standard, and then hold them to it.

Members who cannot or will not meet the standard should not be operating on the fireground. That is not a career-versus-volunteer issue. That is a safety and competency issue. If a career member could not pass a skills check, you would pull them off the truck too.

Integrated Training

One of the most effective ways to build cohesion in a combination department is integrated training. Career and volunteer members training together, on the same drill ground, working through the same scenarios, as one team.

When career and volunteer members only train separately, they develop separate identities, separate techniques, and separate cultures. When they train together, they learn each other's capabilities, build personal relationships, and develop the muscle memory of working as a single unit.

Make joint training a regular, non-negotiable part of your training calendar. At least once a month, bring career and volunteer members together for a combined training session. Make it hands-on and operationally focused. Put career and volunteer members on the same hoseline, the same search team, the same truck company. Let them work together in training so they can work together on the fireground.

During joint training, mix up the positions. Do not always put the career members in the leadership roles. Let experienced volunteers take the lead. Let career members work as team members under a volunteer officer. This builds mutual respect and demonstrates that competency is not a function of employment status.

Building Relationships

You cannot build a team if the members do not know each other. One of the biggest problems in combination departments is that career and volunteer members interact only on emergency scenes, which is the worst possible environment for building relationships.

Create opportunities for informal interaction. Shared meals at the station. Department social events. Sports leagues. Community service projects. Holiday gatherings. Anything that gets career and volunteer members in the same room, talking to each other as human beings rather than just as coworkers.

Some of the best combination departments I have seen have a culture where volunteer members are welcome at the station anytime. They come in, hang out, check equipment, and get to know the on-duty crew. That integration builds the personal connections that make a team function under pressure.

Station assignments matter too. If your volunteer members only report to one station and your career members work at different stations, the two groups may never actually interact. Consider structuring your volunteer response so that volunteers and career members regularly operate from the same stations.

Addressing Disrespect Directly

If career members are openly disrespecting volunteers, or volunteers are undermining career members, that behavior has to be addressed immediately and directly. Do not let it slide. Do not hope it resolves itself. It will not.

Disrespectful behavior erodes trust, drives away volunteers, damages morale among career staff, and ultimately degrades the department's operational capability. It is a leadership problem, and it requires a leadership solution.

Make your expectations clear: every member of this department treats every other member with professional respect, regardless of employment status. Violations of that expectation have consequences. First offense gets a private conversation with the officer. Second offense gets a formal counseling. Third offense gets progressive discipline. The same standard for career and volunteer members.

This is not about being heavy-handed. This is about protecting the culture of your organization. One career member who openly mocks the volunteers can do more damage to your volunteer retention than any funding shortage. One volunteer who openly disrespects the career staff can poison the working environment for everyone. Address it.

Fair Recognition and Inclusion

Make sure your volunteer members are included in the recognition, communication, and decision-making processes of the department. If you have an awards ceremony, include volunteers. If you send out department communications, include volunteers. If you have committees or work groups, include volunteers. If you are making decisions that affect operations, get volunteer input.

Volunteers who feel invisible or excluded eventually stop volunteering. And in most combination departments, you cannot afford to lose them. Your volunteers are filling staffing gaps, providing additional manpower on working incidents, and serving your community. Treat them accordingly.

Recognition does not have to be elaborate. A thank-you at a department meeting, a note in the newsletter, an acknowledgment of a job well done on a call. Small gestures of recognition reinforce that volunteer members are valued and respected.

Handling the Pay Differential Honestly

The elephant in every combination department is compensation. Career members get paid. Volunteers get little or nothing. This creates an inherent power dynamic that can be toxic if not acknowledged openly.

Be transparent about compensation structures and why they exist. Career members earn their pay through full-time commitment, scheduled availability, and the professional expectations that come with paid employment. Volunteer members receive the department's gratitude, training opportunities, and the satisfaction of community service. Neither contribution is more or less valuable than the other. They are just different.

Some combination departments offer volunteer stipends, per-call payments, or other forms of modest compensation. These vary widely and should be structured in a way that acknowledges volunteer contributions without creating tax or employment complications. Consult with your municipality's legal and finance departments before implementing any compensation program.

Length of Service Award Programs, known as LOSAP, are another way to provide volunteer members with a tangible benefit for their years of service. These programs provide a retirement-style benefit based on years of volunteer service and are available in many states. They can be a powerful retention tool.

The Leadership Challenge

Running a combination department well is one of the hardest leadership challenges in the fire service. It requires balancing competing interests, managing different expectations, and building a unified culture from groups that have legitimate reasons to see themselves as different.

The chiefs and officers who do this well share a few characteristics. They refuse to play favorites between career and volunteer members. They hold everyone to the same standard. They communicate openly and frequently. They address problems directly rather than avoiding conflict. And they consistently reinforce the message that this is one department, one team, one mission.

If you are struggling with the career-volunteer divide in your department, start with the fundamentals. Set one standard. Train together. Build relationships. Address disrespect. Include everyone. It is not easy work, but it is essential work. Your community deserves a fire department that functions as a team, and that starts with leadership.

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