Belgium’s Volunteer Firefighter Shortage Deepens

Belgium is confronting a persistent and increasingly urgent shortage of volunteer firefighters, the backbone of fire and rescue services in many parts of the country. With hundreds of posts unfilled in regions such as West Flanders and a steady decline in enlistment nationwide, unions, local officials and federal politicians are pressing for reform before emergency response capacity is further strained.

A Service Built on Volunteers

Volunteer firefighters perform the same tasks and receive the same training as their professional counterparts, but combine the role with a main job or studies in exchange for an allowance rather than a salary. Their importance varies sharply by region. According to L’Avenir, Belgium counted about 10,500 volunteer firefighters in 2024 — roughly half of all firefighters in Wallonia and up to 70% in Flanders. Nationally, volunteers represent about 40% of the firefighting workforce.

In some zones, the reliance is near-total. The Dinaphi rescue zone in southern Namur province, for instance, is more than 80% volunteer-staffed, according to RTBF, which reported a recruitment drive running through the end of December.

Recruitment Gaps Widen

The clearest measure of the problem comes from West Flanders. In the province’s four rescue zones, at least 231 volunteer positions were unfilled as of late August 2026, according to Focus/WTV. The shortage is most acute in the Westhoek zone, where only 811 of 928 planned volunteer posts are filled — a gap of 117. Zone 1, covering Bruges and Ostend, is short 88 volunteers, while the Midwest zone is missing 26 of a 600-strong contingent.

The contrast with professional staffing is striking. West Flanders’ career firefighter numbers are near full strength, with Zone 1 reporting a shortfall of only three professional firefighters and Midwest a single vacancy in its sub-officer ranks.

The trend is not confined to one region. Flanders lost 470 volunteer firefighters between 2020 and 2024, with Antwerp province alone shedding 76, according to figures obtained from Interior Minister Bernard Quintin and reported by RTV.

Why Fewer Are Signing Up

The barriers to becoming a volunteer are considerable. Candidates must be at least 18, hold a category B driving licence, pass federal fitness tests and complete a basic training course of 240 hours, according to the federal fire service brandweer.be. Sergeants face roughly 500 hours of training, and captains about 748. Volunteers must also complete at least 120 hours of continuing education every five years, plus 24 hours annually within their own zone.

Availability rules further narrow the pool. Volunteers may work no more than 24 hours per week alongside their main job, and many zones impose residence or availability obligations that limit who can apply. Compensation comes in the form of an hourly allowance — around €20.30 gross for one zone — supplemented by a tax exemption of more than €6,000 per year and an exemption from social security contributions.

For Patrice Liétart, spokesperson for the Dinaphi zone, the process itself is the problem. The many conditions and steps to become a volunteer “complicate recruitment,” he said, adding that “fewer and fewer citizens are ready to commit to saving lives.” He has called for simplifying the process and better valuing volunteers’ allowances.

A Reform Stuck in Negotiation

The political response has been slow and, at times, fraught. The Flemish socialist party Vooruit tabled a resolution on the volunteer shortage in 2022, and its proposals have since fed into the federal coalition agreement — which envisions a better statute for volunteers, closer cooperation between zones on recruitment, and a reform of firefighter education.

But the reform process has drawn union concern. Firefighter unions, represented by Steven Gillesen of ACV Services publics, met Interior Minister Quintin informally in December 2025 after threatening action if no meeting took place. Gillesen said the unions raised “the lack of commitments made regarding consultation and negotiation,” as well as worries about the drafting of the draft policy based on the coalition agreement, according to RTBF/Belga. Quintin described the talks as an “intermediate stage” and said the negotiation process would be respected.

The Measurement Problem

One obstacle to solving the shortage is that its national scale is genuinely unknown. Because there is no legal staffing norm, each of Belgium’s 34 rescue zones is free to recruit and manage its own numbers. As L’Avenir noted, this makes it impossible to quantify precisely how many volunteers are missing or how the gap is distributed across the country.

That statistical blind spot complicates any coordinated response. It also leaves zones to compete against one another for a shrinking pool of candidates, rather than working from a shared national picture.

What to Watch

Belgium has begun to invest in the pipeline — West Flanders has earmarked €5.3 million for a new training hall at the provincial safety training centre in Zedelgem, a move welcomed by provincial deputy Kelly Detavernier (N-VA), who stressed the importance of offering volunteers “the best possible training and infrastructure.”

Yet infrastructure alone will not close a gap driven by demographics, workload and complex entry requirements. The coming months will test whether the federal reform delivers a clearer, more attractive statute for volunteers — and whether Belgium can reverse a decline that has now been visible for years. For residents of rural zones where volunteers make up the overwhelming majority of responders, the stakes are immediate: the next emergency call depends on whether enough people signed up.