Results from the NVFC’s COVID-19 Impact on Fire/EMS Survey

May 12, 2020

The National Volunteer Fire Council (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. We ask that you take a few minutes to complete the survey here and that you re-take the survey once a week so that we can track changes over time. The more responses the survey receives the more robust and useful the data are, so please keep us informed about your experiences!

Survey Results
Respondents were asked to indicate areas where they are experiencing challenges. Overall, 18.7 percent (86 of 456) of responses between 3/20 and 5/7 were from respondents who completed the survey multiple times.

3/20-04/16 4/17-05/07 Aggregate data
Running low on personal protective equipment (PPE) 66% 54% 63%
Run out of PPE 25% 15% 23%
Inability to fundraise 45%* 40%* 43%*
Staff unwilling/hesitant to respond 47% 44% 46%
Can’t get new personnel trained/certified because EMS education processes are frozen 35% 45% 37%
Concern over mental health of personnel 35%* 30% 33%*
Unable to recruit new volunteers 52%** 51%** 50%**
Unable to train 75%** 72%** 73%**
Challenges getting personnel tested for COVID-19 18% 25% 18%
Low morale 29%* 20%* 25%*
Disruption to junior firefighter programs 24%* 28%* 25%*
Personnel in quarantine 12% 18% 13%
Struggling with increased call volume 5% 9% 6%
Volunteer(s) being discouraged or prohibited by employer from responding to calls Not asked 25%*** 25%***

*Question first asked 3/26           **Question first asked 4/9           ***Question first asked 4/24