Sudbury’s Successful Recruitment Efforts

Local 920 members with the City of Greater Sudbury are hopeful that the spring 2022 volunteer recruitment effort will be as successful as the previous one in 2021.

In 2021, a total of 64 new volunteer recruits were hired, which resulted in a 32 percent increase in volunteer firefighters for the region. This successful recruitment effort represents an important step toward addressing the volunteer firefighter staffing needs of the fire service. This success needs to be followed up with another in 2022 to help solidify the gains made in 2021.

A large part of that success came from the direct involvement of the volunteers who were able to meet with the candidates and provide them direction and guidance as they completed the physical testing elements of the recruitment process. This allowed prospective candidates to meet with experienced volunteer firefighters to begin the important process of establishing a supportive workplace community, upon which volunteer firefighting is established.

This recruitment effort demonstrated the success that can be achieved through the involvement of the volunteer firefighters, and it is hoped this will become the working model for the future. Recruitment and retention efforts will continue to be a primary focus for the City of Greater Sudbury volunteer firefighters.