Reference no: EM132228671

Rural City is a small, rural municipality that is only a 30 minute commute from a major metropolitan area. The town is approximately 25 square miles in area and has been designated as a growth area by the state. A newly completed major highway cuts through Rural City and has brought more individuals into the area. Many of these people left the metropolitan area for the better quality of life that could be found in Rural City. The newcomers who moved to Rural City because of the quality of life are now requesting additional services that they had when they resided in the metropolitan area. One of the first requests was for an upgrade of the fire department. Two full-time firefighters and a significant number of volunteers staff the fire department. Because of the size of the town and the geography (the highway cuts the town into two parts), there are two separate fire stations, each with its own equipment and volunteer staff. The fire department volunteers frequently double as the emergency medical technicians. More than half of the volunteers are either certified for emergency services or are in training to be certified. The two fire stations are relatively new buildings and are mortgage free. The Fire Chief and the Deputy Fire Chief are the only full-time employees. Although the number of volunteer firefighters is sufficient to meet current demands, the number of new volunteer firefighters is not keeping up with the increase in the population. As the fire chief, what types of strategies would you consider to increase the number of volunteers in the fire department? Why did you select these strategies? If the population was increasing at a steady rate, would your strategies be different than if the population was increasing at an irregular rate? What policy issues relative to the fire department can you envision based on this scenario?