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

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 periodically (no more than once per week) so that we can track changes over time.

Between March 20 and May 28, there were 475 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 5 percent belong to a department with mostly-career
personnel. Approximately 74 percent reported that their ESO has been adversely impacted by COVID-19,
compared with 26 percent who indicated that their ESO has not been adversely impacted.

Respondents were asked to indicate areas where they were experiencing challenges:

3/20-4/16 4/17-5/28 Aggregate data

Running low on personal

66% 52% 62%
protective equipment (PPE)
Run out of PPE 25% 17% 23%
Inability to fundraise 45%* 51% 46%*
Staff unwilling/hesitant to
47% 46% 46%
respond
Can’t get new personnel
trained/certified because EMS 35% 48% 38%
education processes are frozen
Concern over mental health of
35%* 32% 33%*
personnel
Unable to recruit new
52%** 49% 50%**
volunteers
Unable to train 75%** 78% 75%**
Challenges getting personnel
18% 20% 18%
tested for COVID-19
Low morale 29%* 21% 26%*
Disruption to junior firefighter
24%* 31% 26%*
programs
Personnel in quarantine 12% 19% 13%
Struggling with increased call
5% 8% 6%
volume
Volunteer(s) being discouraged
or prohibited by employer from Not asked 19%*** 19%***
responding to calls

*Question first asked 3/26 **Question first asked 4/9 ***Question first asked 4/24
Respondents are 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 between 3/20 and 5/21 were from respondents who completed the
survey multiple times.