Final Results from the NVFC’s COVID-19 Impact on Fire/EMS Survey
July 7, 2020
The NVFC created a survey to better understand the experiences of volunteer and combination fire, EMS, and rescue departments dealing with the outbreak of COVID-19 and related social distancing measures. Between March 20 and June 30, there were 466 survey completions.
Approximately 69 percent of respondents belong to an emergency services organization (ESO) with all-volunteer personnel, 26 percent belong to a department with mostly-volunteer personnel, and five percent belong to a department with mostly-career personnel. Approximately 75 percent reported that their ESO has been adversely impacted by COVID-19, compared with 25 percent who indicated that their ESO has not been adversely impacted. Respondents were asked to indicate areas where they were experiencing challenges.
| 3/20-3/25 (161 responses) |
3/26-4/8 (129) |
4/9-4/23 (119) |
4/24-6/30 (74) |
Aggregate data (466) |
|
| Running low on personal protective equipment (PPE) | 72% | 62% | 58% | 41% | 61% |
| Run out of PPE | 34% | 20% | 14% | 19% | 23% |
| Inability to fundraise | Not asked | 41%* | 45% | 59% | 47%* |
| Staff unwilling/hesitant to respond | 48% | 44% | 46% | 45% | 46% |
| Can’t get new personnel trained/certified because EMS education processes are frozen | 30% | 36% | 44% |
49% |
38% |
| Concern over mental health of personnel | Not asked | 35%* | 34% | 25% | 32%* |
| Unable to recruit new volunteers | Not asked | Not asked | 46%** | 48% | 47%** |
| Unable to train | Not asked | Not asked | 70%** | 79% | 73%** |
| Challenges getting personnel tested for COVID-19 | 18% | 19% | 20% | 15% | 18% |
| Low morale | Not asked | 29%* | 22% | 24% | 25%* |
| Disruption to junior firefighter programs | Not asked | 24%* | 27% | 25% | 25%* |
| Personnel in quarantine | 9% | 17% | 14% | 16% | 13% |
| Struggling with increased call volume | 7% | 3% | 5% | 7% | 5% |
| Volunteer(s) being discouraged or prohibited by employer from responding to calls | Not asked | Not asked | Not asked |
17%*** |
17%*** |
*Question first asked 3/26 **Question first asked 4/9 ***Question first asked 4/24
Respondents were encouraged to fill out the survey as frequently as once per week to report changing circumstances, so the aggregated results include multiple entries from the same respondent. Overall, approximately 19 percent of responses were from respondents who completed the survey multiple times.
