Building West Virginia’s future fire service workforce through youth engagement

Volunteer fire departments across West Virginia face ongoing recruitment and retention challenges threatening emergency response capacity, particularly in rural and economically distressed communities. Aging volunteer memberships, increased training requirements and limited early exposure to fire service careers have weakened the traditional pipeline of new volunteers. 

To address this workforce gap, the West Virginia University Extension State Fire Training Academy operated the National Junior Firefighter Camp as a proactive early-entry training and leadership development program. In 2025, the week-long immersive camp engaged 155 youth ages 14–17 in hands-on, scenario-based training focused on fire safety, emergency response skills, teamwork, leadership and service culture. Approximately 60 experienced volunteer instructors provided mentorship and professional guidance in a highly supervised learning environment. 

Program results demonstrate strong workforce readiness and community impact. Post-program surveys showed that 98% of participants plan to return to their home communities to volunteer and pursue Firefighter 1 certification, while 96% reported improved teamwork and leadership skills. Additionally, 73% indicated strong interest in enrolling in high school vocational firefighter programs if available. Based on national estimates valuing each volunteer firefighter at approximately $23,000 annually, participating youth represent a projected $2.5 million in potential annual service value to West Virginia’s emergency response system. 

By strengthening early career pathways and civic engagement, the National Junior Firefighter Camp enhances public safety, builds workforce capacity and supports long-term community resilience.

West Virginia University Extension Service | Project supported by Smith-Lever (3b&c) capacity funds. Photo courtesy of WVU Extension.