Volunteer Fire Department in Poland – factors determining generational change

The tradition of the Volunteer Fire Department (VFD) in Poland, as in many other countries in the world, dates back to the 19th century, and a large number of units have celebrated the centenary of their activity in recent years. In the meantime, the VFD has been put to many difficult tests, which not only did not weaken it, but actually strengthened it. It is true that the period of systemic transformation revealed many negative phenomena in the VFD, such as clientelistic dependencies or the phenomenon of "nostalgic vegetation", which from its very name indicates a kind of concrete structure of this formation. Nevertheless, the VFD is still the most numerous non-governmental organization in Poland and this is unlikely to change in the near future. However, many changes, including the pursuit of professionalization of volunteer firefighters, may cause discouragement with volunteer service and the phenomenon of a generation gap, which will be difficult to replace. The process of moving away from the value of unpaid work for the benefit of local communities may turn out to be irreversible. Hence, it is extremely important to learn the opinions of volunteer firefighters, because they are already noticing that they are gradually being divided into better and worse, professionals and amateurs, systematically and administratively excluded from direct actions to which they were called over a hundred years ago and who are constantly guided by the same goal: "For God's glory, for the benefit of people". The article presents the results of research among volunteer firefighters and MDP firefighters, the aim of which was to obtain answers to questions about the future of the OSP in Poland and to learn about the opinions on what currently drives young people who join or leave the OSP, what should be done to increase recruitment and minimize the effects of the low level of generational exchange of firefighters. The aim of the research was also to obtain an answer to the question of whether the OSP is still treated as a "nostalgic" association.