The Challenges of Leading a Rural Volunteer Fire Department: High EMS, Low Fire Call Volumes

For many rural volunteer fire departments, the reality of modern emergency response looks very different than it did 30 or 40 years ago. The days when a department’s identity was centered almost entirely around structure fires and field fires have shifted. Today, many rural departments face a call volume that is overwhelmingly EMS-driven, with fire calls making up a small fraction of the total.

As a fire chief in a rural volunteer department, this creates unique challenges—operational, financial, and cultural—that often go unseen by the public.

EMS Dominates the Call Volume

In small towns and rural areas, it’s not unusual for 70–90% of the calls to be EMS-related—anything from heart attacks, strokes, overdoses, car wrecks, to lift assists for elderly residents. Fire calls—house fires, brush fires, vehicle fires—happen, but they’re rare compared to the constant stream of EMS incidents.

On one hand, this means departments are undeniably vital to their communities’ health and safety. On the other, it can stretch resources thin, blur the department’s identity, and even frustrate volunteers who signed up “to fight fire” but find themselves running mostly medicals.

Recruitment and Retention Struggles

This imbalance in call volume makes recruiting and retaining volunteers harder than ever. Many people are drawn to the fire service by the adrenaline and challenge of fire suppression. When most calls end up being medical in nature, some volunteers lose interest.

Add in the training demands—state-mandated fire training, EMS certifications, ongoing continuing education—and the time commitment becomes enormous. It’s a lot to ask from people who are also holding down full-time jobs, raising families, and farming or working shift work.

Burnout and Response Fatigue

Another challenge is burnout. In some rural communities, the same 6–10 volunteers respond to nearly every call. With high EMS volume, that could mean multiple pages every day and night. Over time, fatigue sets in, family life suffers, and volunteers start stepping back.

This isn’t just a volunteer issue—it hits chiefs especially hard. Chiefs often feel the responsibility to show up to every call, to set the example. The pressure is heavy, and the exhaustion is real.

Training Balance: Fire Skills vs. Medical Skills

When EMS calls dominate, volunteers risk losing proficiency in firefighting skills. Structure fires may be few and far between, but when one does happen, the community expects firefighters to perform flawlessly. Chiefs must constantly push training on low-frequency, high-risk fire scenarios, even though most members spend their real-world time running EMS.

Balancing EMS training and fire training is one of the hardest juggling acts a chief faces. Too much EMS focus, and fire readiness slips. Too much fire focus, and EMS runs suffer.

Financial Strain

Funding is another challenge. EMS call volume drives up fuel, equipment wear, and supply costs. At the same time, fire equipment—engines, turnout gear, SCBA—must still be purchased and maintained, even if it’s not used nearly as often.

Small rural tax bases don’t provide the same funding as urban departments, so chiefs must become part administrator, part grant-writer, and part fundraiser. It’s a constant battle to stretch every dollar.

Public Perception

One overlooked difficulty is managing community perception. Residents often wonder:

• “Why does the fire department need new fire trucks when they hardly ever fight fires?”

• “Why are volunteers showing up in fire gear for medical calls?”

• “Why does the chief keep asking for more funding when they don’t seem that busy?”

In reality, the workload is heavy—just different than it used to be. Chiefs must spend time educating the public on the department’s role as an all-hazards response agency, not just “the fire guys.”

The Emotional Toll

EMS brings with it another layer—emotional strain. Firefighters may go years without a fatal house fire, but EMS exposes them to trauma constantly: overdoses, suicides, child medical emergencies, and accidents. Chiefs are often the ones carrying not only their own stress but also the weight of their members’ mental health. Supporting volunteers after tough calls has become a vital, but often invisible, part of leadership.

The Chief’s Balancing Act

At the end of the day, the rural fire chief wears many hats: firefighter, paramedic, counselor, mechanic, fundraiser, trainer, and politician. Juggling a high volume of EMS calls with a low volume of fire calls requires patience, persistence, and a deep commitment to community service.

It’s not easy, and it’s not glamorous—but it is essential. For many rural communities, the fire department is the only safety net, the only agency standing between crisis and catastrophe.

And for chiefs, despite the sleepless nights, the burnout, and the frustrations, that’s what keeps them answering the pager: the knowledge that without them and their volunteers, their community would have no one to call