NISTIR 8277 

Voices of First Responders – Examining 

Public Safety Communication 

from the Rural Perspective 

Findings from User-Centered Interviews

Phase 1, Volume 3

Kristen K. Greene

Shaneé Dawkins

Mary F. Theofanos

Michelle Steves

Susanne Furman

Yee-Yin Choong

Sandra Spickard Prettyman

This publication is available free of charge from:

https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.IR.8277
NISTIR 8277

Voices of First Responders – Examining 

Public Safety Communication 

from the Rural Perspective 

Findings from User-Centered Interviews 

Phase 1, Volume 3

Kristen K. Greene

Shaneé Dawkins

Michelle Steves

Susanne Furman

Yee-Yin Choong

Information Access Division

Information Technology Laboratory

Mary F. Theofanos

Office of Data and Informatics

Material Measurement Laboratory

Sandra Spickard Prettyman

Culture Catalyst, LLC

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https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.IR.8277

November 2019

U.S. Department of Commerce

Wilbur L. Ross, Jr., Secretary

National Institute of Standards and Technology

Walter Copan, NIST Director and Undersecretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology
Certain commercial entities, equipment, or materials may be identified in this

document in order to describe an experimental procedure or concept adequately.

Such identification is not intended to imply recommendation or endorsement by the

National Institute of Standards and Technology, nor is it intended to imply that the

entities, materials, or equipment are necessarily the best available for the purpose. 

National Institute of Standards and Technology Interagency or Internal Report 8277

Natl. Inst. Stand. Technol. Interag. Intern. Rep. 8277, 46 pages (November 2019)

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Abstract 

With the newly created Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network (NPSBN), the public safety community has 

a unique opportunity to review and improve communication technology for first responders, in urban, 

suburban, and rural areas. Understanding the problems and challenges currently experienced by first responders 

provides the basis for addressing and developing solutions to improve public safety communication. The 

National Institute of Standards and Technology Public Safety Communications Research (PSCR) usability team 

conducted in-depth interviews with approximately 200 first responders representing 13 states in eight Federal 

Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) regions across the United States. From this larger dataset, this Volume 

3 report focuses on the contexts and challenges specifically faced by rural first responders. This Volume utilizes 

48 interviews with 63 rural first responders. A qualitative analysis of the transcribed interview data revealed 

unique issues posed by rural geography and topography; incident types specific to the rural environment; and

resource challenges faced by rural first responder departments and agencies. Resource challenges include 

financial, personnel, and infrastructure. While there are many similarities between rural first responders and 

their urban and suburban counterparts, this Volume focuses on the unique nature of rural emergency response 

and its implications for technology needs and development. Understanding the specific challenges faced by first 

responders in rural communities can provide insight into the types of technology that might help them best 

respond to incidents effectively, efficiently, and safely.

Key words 

First responders; Communications technology; Public safety communications research; Qualitative research; 

Usability; User-centered design; User needs and requirements.

Audience 

This report is primarily intended for designers, developers, vendors, and researchers of public safety 

communication technology.

Disclaimer 

Any mention of commercial products or reference to commercial organizations is for information only; it does 

not imply recommendation or endorsement by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, nor does it 

imply that the products mentioned are necessarily the best available for the purpose.
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Executive Summary 

With the newly created Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network (NPSBN), the public safety community is 

in the process of supplementing the use of land mobile radios (LMR) with a technology ecosystem that will 

include a variety of new and improved communication tools, including a range of broadband data sharing 

platforms. It is imperative to have a clear understanding of first responder needs, requirements and contexts of 

use—including urban, suburban, and rural environments—in order for successful deployment and adoption of 

new communication technology. This Volume 3 report is part of a multi-phase project that is designed to 

provide an in-depth look at the population of first responders, along with their work environments, their tasks, 

and their communication needs. In the initial research phase, the National Institute of Standards and Technology 

Public Safety Communications Research (PSCR) usability team conducted in-depth interviews with 

approximately 200 first responders representing 13 states in eight Federal Emergency Management Agency 

(FEMA) regions across the United States. From the larger dataset, this Volume 3 report focuses on the contexts 

and challenges specifically faced by rural first responders. Focusing specifically on rural first responders allows 

identification of their contexts of work, and how the rural environment influences the problems they face, and 

the needs they have, related to communication and technology. Understanding the unique challenges faced by 

first responders in rural communities can provide insight into the types of technology that might help them best 

respond to incidents effectively, efficiently, and safely.

This Volume 3 report draws on interviews with 63 rural first responders (48 transcripts) coming from all four first 

responder disciplines: 911 communications, emergency medical services, fire service, and law enforcement. 

Findings from this subset of the data show that rural users are in many ways similar to their urban and suburban 

counterparts. However, the contexts in which they work can be very different, which leads to differences in the 

technology and communication problems and needs they experience. In particular, there are unique 

communication and technology issues surrounding rural geography and topography. While some of these issues 

are similar to those experienced in urban environments, such as dropped calls and coverage issues, the reasons 

for them are different. Size and distance in rural environments also have implications for technology and 

incident response. Additionally, rural first responder departments and agencies face resource challenges in 

three specific areas: financial, personnel, and infrastructure. Often, the need for new or emerging 

communications technology is trumped by the need for basic gear and tools. Related to personnel, hiring, 

training, and retention are significant issues faced by rural departments. These personnel issues are true across 

rural agencies, but are amplified in volunteer departments, magnifying issues related to declining volunteerism 

across the United States. Finally, the infrastructure resources that first responders have access to can vary 

widely in rural areas. Taken together these findings paint a picture of the nuanced and unique characteristics of 

the rural first responder environment and the challenges they face related to communications technology. The 

document closes with a discussion on the implications for technology improvement and development. The 

infographic on the next page provides a visual summary of the report.
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Infographic 
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Table of Contents 

ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................................................................ I

KEY WORDS ..................................................................................................................................................................... I

AUDIENCE ........................................................................................................................................................................ I

DISCLAIMER ..................................................................................................................................................................... I

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................................... II

INFOGRAPHIC ................................................................................................................................................................ III

LIST OF TABLES .............................................................................................................................................................. V

LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................................................................ V

LIST OF ACRONYMS ...................................................................................................................................................... VI

1. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................................... 1

1.1. Defining rural .............................................................................................................................................. 1

1.2. Investigating rural ....................................................................................................................................... 3

2. METHODS ............................................................................................................................................................... 4

3. PARTICIPANTS ........................................................................................................................................................ 4

3.1. Experience with technology for rural participants..................................................................................... 7

3.2. Data collection challenges.......................................................................................................................... 8

4. FINDINGS ................................................................................................................................................................ 9

4.1. Characteristics of rural first responders..................................................................................................... 9

4.2. Characteristics of rural communities.......................................................................................................10

4.3. Unique challenges faced by rural first responders..................................................................................12

4.3.1. Geographic challenges ...............................................................................................................12

Size and characteristics.............................................................................................................................. 12

Seasonal nature of incidents...................................................................................................................... 14

4.3.2. Resource challenges...................................................................................................................16

Financial resources .................................................................................................................................... 16

Haves and have nots.................................................................................................................................. 19

Personnel resources................................................................................................................................... 20

Rural volunteers......................................................................................................................................... 22

Infrastructure resources ............................................................................................................................ 25

5. DISCUSSION .......................................................................................................................................................... 26

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................................................ 28

REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................................................. 28

APPENDIX A: DETAILED METHODOLOGY ..................................................................................................................... 31

APPENDIX B: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS ......................................................................................................................... 36

APPENDIX C: DEMOGRAPHIC QUESTIONNAIRE .......................................................................................................... 37
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List of Tables 

Table 1. Total number of rural participants interviewed by discipline......................................................................... 5

Table 2. Experience with technology for rural interviews ............................................................................................ 8

Table 3. Quantitative versus qualitative validity ......................................................................................................... 34

List of Figures 

Fig. 1. Census Bureau map of all rural areas in the U.S................................................................................................. 3

Fig. 2. Phase 1 Rural Interview Areas by FEMA Region ................................................................................................ 5

Fig. 3. Gender of participants for rural dataset vs. overall dataset .............................................................................. 6

Fig. 4. Gender of participants by discipline for rural dataset vs. overall dataset vs. national demographics ............. 6

Fig. 5. Participant demographics comparison of the rural dataset vs. overall dataset................................................ 7
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List of Acronyms 

Census..............U.S. Census Bureau

COMMS ............Communications, 911/Dispatch

CPR ...................Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation

EMS ..................Emergency Medical Service

ERS ...................Economic Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture

FEMA................Federal Emergency Management Agency

FF......................Fire Service

GPS ...................Global Positioning System

IT ......................Information Technology

LE......................Law Enforcement

LMR ..................Land Mobile Radios

LUCAS...............Lund University Cardiac Assist System

NFPA.................National Fire Protection Association

NPSBN ..............Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network

PS......................Public Safety

PSCR .................Public Safety Communications Research

US .....................United States
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1. Introduction 

The public safety community is in the process of supplementing the use of land mobile radios (LMR) with a 

technology ecosystem that will include a variety of new and improved communication tools, including a range of 

broadband data sharing platforms. It is imperative to have a clear understanding of first responder needs, 

requirements and contexts of use in order for successful deployment and adoption of new communication 

technology [16]. This report is part of a multi-phase project that is designed to provide an in-depth look at the 

population of first responders, along with their work environments, their tasks, and their communication needs. 

Phase 1 data collection focused on interviews with approximately 200 first responders (law enforcement, fire 

fighters, emergency medical services, and 911/dispatch) across the country. The Phase 1 qualitative data 

informed the design and development of the survey instrument for Phase 2, distributed to first responders 

nationwide. The Volume 1 report presents findings from the initial phase of qualitative data collection [2].

Volume 2 specifically identifies the technology problems and functionality requested of first responders from 

the full qualitative dataset [7]. Volumes 1 and 2 represent larger examinations of the entire dataset, while this

report, Volume 3, focuses on analyzing a specific subset—the rural interview data. We were interested in 

exploring the following questions in the current document.

1. What makes the rural environment unique for first responders and their work?

2. What are the specific challenges in rural environments for rural first responders, 

specifically related to incident response?

3. What are the communication and technology problems and needs of rural first 

responders?

As noted above, in order to improve current technology and design new technology, it is imperative to 

understand the users, their tasks, and their specific contexts, including rural users, who are often forgotten. If 

we are going to design technology to meet their problems and needs, we need to understand rural users and 

contexts in which they work. In addition, the Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network (NPSBN) is designed 

to provide seamless communication for all first responders. As rural communities have unique circumstances 

compared to urban and suburban communities, this document provides an overview of the type of rural 

contexts where first responders work, as well as the problems and challenges they face related to 

communication and technology.

1.1. Defining rural

The term “rural” often evokes images of farms and fields, small towns and Main Streets, or rolling hills and open 

roads. For many people, rural remains an abstract concept, something they can imagine, rather than something 

they can define. While there is no specific definition of rural that is widely accepted, it seems clear that it is 

different than what is meant by urban or suburban. As such, the term “rural” serves as a useful concept for 

analysis. However, trying to delineate what makes a place rural is a difficult task [15]. For example, is it 

population size or density that defines a place as rural, or is it the administrative boundaries of the area it 

encompasses?

Often, rural is defined as that which is not urban or suburban. For example, the U.S. Census Bureau (Census) 

defines rural as any population, housing, or territory that is not included within an urban area (urbanized area or 

urban cluster). Urban areas include suburban environments as well, as those often surround urban centers [14].

This sometimes creates situations where it is complicated to distinguish exactly what is rural and what is not. For 
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example, many rural participants had difficulty deciding whether to choose rural or suburban on the 

demographic questionnaire (see Sec. 2), noting, as the participant below states, that the area they serve is 

changing. Several asked if they could choose multiple categories because of this.

We are a very rural community in many instances. The largest part of our area... is rural.

But we have some very growing, we're one of the fastest growing [counties] in the state 

and we have a lot of suburban areas. (COMMS-R-016)1

According to the Census, while rural areas are comprised of territory that is not in an urban area, much of the 

rural population is found in the vicinity of urban areas and not in the more remote locations we often associate 

with the rural landscape [18].

As another example, the Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (ERS) notes that the 

first step in defining rural is identifying urban areas, then all remaining territory is considered rural [4]. This 

means that rural areas in the U.S. can vary widely in their composition. They can be sparsely populated open 

land or remote wilderness, a densely populated small town or a housing subdivision on the fringe of an urban 

area. This highlights the multidimensional nature of the term rural, which is what makes it difficult to define.

Rural areas differ in size (square miles), terrain, population and housing density, proximity to large wilderness 

areas, and climate. While there are differences in what rural areas look like, what they share is the lack of an 

urban environment.

While there is often a juxtaposition of rural and urban, the ERS notes that what is most important is to consider 

the purpose of the work or research being done. “The key is to use a rural-urban definition that best fits the 

needs of a specific activity, recognizing that any simple dichotomy hides a complex rural-urban continuum, with 

very gentle gradations from one level to the next” [4]. What is important here is that while there are different 

definitions of rural, the definition utilized should depend upon the purpose for which it is used. Different 

agencies and different researchers use different definitions because they are interested in rural areas and 

populations for different reasons—their purpose varies. The ERS notes that defining the line between rural and 

urban America that best serves the purpose of the project involves answering two questions: 1) Is a given urban 

area defined in terms of its administrative boundaries, its land-use patterns, or its economic influence; and 2) 

What is the minimum population size for an area to be considered urban?

This study draws upon the Census definition that identifies rural as territory that is at least five miles or more 

from an urbanized area, or territory that is at least 2.5 miles from an urban cluster. Thus, rural is comprised of 

the territory that is not considered to be in an urban area (including suburban areas). Our purpose in this phase 

of the project was to look at what makes rural unique, especially in the realm of public safety. Given that most 

first responder agencies and departments are structured around administrative boundaries, we sought out 

participants who operated within different types of administrative entities (municipalities, counties, etc.) at the 

rural level (see Sampling Strategy in Appendix A).

1 All direct participant responses are verbatim in blue text and come directly from participant transcripts. See Sec. 4 for 

details regarding participant responses.
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1.2. Investigating rural

According to the 2010 census, rural areas cover about 97 % of the land in the U.S., and when looking at a map 

depicting rural areas in the U.S., it is clear just how much area this represents [Fig. 1]. In addition, approximately 

19 % of the U.S. population live in these rural areas—about 60 million people—or 1 in 5 U.S. residents.

Fig. 1. Census Bureau map of all rural areas in the U.S. [18]

Data from the Census highlight the ways in which rural communities differ from their urban counterparts and 

why these contextual differences matter. Rural communities are comprised of large land areas that are more 

sparsely populated, with lower housing density than urban areas. The rural population has a lower median 

household income and a lower median home value than the urban population. Adults in rural communities have 

a higher median age (51) than their urban counterparts (45). These are just a few of the demographic 

differences found in rural areas, but they are differences that may have an impact on the work and experiences 

of first responders [17].

The context of work matters, in this case the rural context, when trying to understand the experiences of first 

responders, the problems they face and the needs they have. However, when talking about first responders, the 

focus is often on urban environments, especially when talking about communication and technology needs.

Urban areas are what the media portray most often and what is seen in the news, and many people imagine 

that this is what being a first responder is like. However, as one of our participants noted:

“Tragedy’s not you know just specific to one certain area. Really bad things can happen 

out here [in rural areas].” (FF-R-049)

In general, technology development for first responders has not always taken into consideration the rural 

context and environment. However, rural environments are different than their urban counterparts in ways that 

affect what first responders do, need, and experience. Understanding the specific challenges faced by first 

responders in rural communities can provide insight into the types of technology that might help them best 

respond to incidents effectively, efficiently, and safely, in other words, to have usable technology [11]. Our goal 
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in this report is to highlight the unique challenges and needs that rural first responders have related to 

communication technology so that moving forward their voices and contexts are taken into consideration.

2. Methods 

As noted above, this report grows out of a multi-phase research project that examines first responder beliefs, 

perceptions, and experiences related to communication technology. Phase I, the qualitative component, 

specifically focused on the context of first responder work, especially as it related to communication and first 

responder use of technology. Phase I includes 158 interviews with 193 first responders across the United States.

Data from the Phase I interviews informed Phase II, a largescale quantitative survey designed to investigate first 

responder problems and needs related to communication technology. This report utilizes a subset of the Phase I 

data and focuses specifically on the 48 interviews done with 63 first responders who work in rural agencies and 

departments in order to present the specific issues and experiences they face. The goal here is to examine the 

rural context in particular and what makes it unique, as well as the specific challenges experienced by rural first 

responders. Methodological details related to sampling strategy, data collection instruments, and data analysis 

processes can be found in Appendix A.

3. Participants 

Due to the varied public safety issues faced in different parts of the country, geographic and cultural diversity 

were primary considerations for the larger project. Areas for interviews were chosen that provide reasonable 

coverage of the depth and breadth of geographic and cultural diversity in the U.S. Also taken into consideration 

was coverage of the varied types of incidents that first responders face. These areas as shown in Fig. 2, align well 

with the 10 regions defined by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Note that in the map 

below, we utilize the three-letter code of the major airport in the area in which we collected interviews. For this 

volume, Volume 3, that is the rural area surrounding the urban area represented by the airport code.
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Fig. 2. Phase 1 Rural Interview Areas by FEMA Region2 [9]

Of the 193 first responders interviewed for the larger project, 63 (32.64 %) operated in what we defined as rural 

areas of the U.S. The 63 rural responders collectively represented all four first responder disciplines [Table 1].

This dataset of 63 rural first responders is the focus of the following analyses.

Table 1. Total number of rural participants interviewed by discipline

COMMS EMS FF LE Total

18 6 19 20 63

28.57 % 9.52 % 30.16 % 31.75 %

At the start of each interview, participants were asked to complete a demographics questionnaire (see Appendix 

C). The questionnaire captured information about responders’ characteristics, experiences, and levels of comfort 

with technology. Demographic variables for rural first responders largely mirror those of the full dataset [7], 

with a few interesting exceptions. Characteristics of first responder participants in rural areas are consistent 

with national numbers [5][6][8][12], showing a male majority (79.37 %), as in the full dataset (86.01 %).

However, nearly 50 percent more females were interviewed in the rural data (20.63 %) than in the overall data

(13.99 %) [Fig. 3]. The larger number of females in the rural dataset may be due to the relative number of 

2 U – urban locations where interviews were conducted; S – suburban locations where interviews were conducted; R – rural 

locations where interviews were conducted
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COMMS personnel interviewed as compared to the overall dataset [Fig. 4]; nationally, more females are 

employed as COMMS personnel than their respective FF, EMS, and LE counterparts [5][6][8][12].

Fig. 3. Gender of participants for rural dataset vs. overall dataset

Fig. 4. Gender of participants by discipline for rural dataset vs. overall dataset vs. national demographics

Consistent with the overall dataset, more than half of all rural participants fell between the ages of 36 and 55 

years (26.98 % from 36-45; 34.92 % from 46-55) [Fig. 5]. The distribution of total years of service for the rural 

interview participants also mirrors the larger dataset, with the category of 21-25 years of service being the 

largest for both (20.97 % of rural participants and 18.85 % of the overall dataset) [Fig. 5]. The average for years 

of service was 16.64 for rural participants versus 17.80 for the overall dataset.

Rural Females

Rural Males

Overall Males

Overall Females

National Males

National Females

44.44%

53.33%

44.70%

83.33%

88.00%

75.00%

100.00%

95.77% 93.00% 90.00% 89.55% 87.00%

55.56% 46.67% 55.30% 16.67% 12.00% 25.00% 4.23% 7.00% 10.00% 10.45% 13.00%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

COMMS EMS FF LE

44.44%

53.33%

44.70%

83.33%

88.00%

75.00%

100.00%

95.77% 93.00% 90.00% 89.55% 87.00%

55.56% 46.67% 55.30% 16.67% 12.00% 25.00% 4.23% 7.00% 10.00% 10.45% 13.00%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

COMMS EMS FF LE
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Fig. 5. Participant demographics comparison of the rural dataset vs. overall dataset

Notable differences are in the participants aged 18-25 years and the participants with 1-5 years of service. More 

than twice the number of participants fell in the lower age range of 18-25 years (11.11 %) in the rural data than 

in the full dataset (4.71 %). Similarly, the number of rural first responders who have 1-5 years of experience 

(17.74 %) is over 50 percent more than in the overall dataset (10.99 %). As will be discussed in the results 

section, these differences in age and years of service may be because younger responders use rural areas as 

stepping stones to jobs in larger departments, often creating retention issues in rural areas (see Sec. 4.3.2).

3.1. Experience with technology for rural participants

Participants were also asked to self-identify their level of experience with various technologies, as well as their 

tendencies when adopting new technology [Table 2]. Of rural participants, 65.08 % indicated they could do most 

things with technology with occasional assistance, and 17.46 % noted they could do everything they 

wanted/needed without assistance, which is consistent with the percentages in the larger dataset [7].

Approximately 19 % of rural participants indicated they only had limited or some experience using technology, 

and often needed help. This is higher than in the larger dataset where only 10.99 % of participants self-reported 

as having some knowledge about and experience with technology and 1.05 % self-reported having limited 

experience and did not know much about how technology works.

When asked about technology adoption, 39.68 % of rural participants indicated they let others work out the 

kinks before adopting new technology, which is consistent with the larger dataset (39.27 %). Also consistent 
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were the numbers who noted they try the latest technology as soon as it comes out, 17.46 % of the rural 

participants and 19.90 % of participants in the larger dataset. However, only 28.57 % of rural participants say 

they follow technology trends, while 38.22 % of the larger dataset chose this option. On the other end of the 

adoption spectrum, 12.70 % of rural participants adopt new technology when their old technology dies, versus 

8.38 % in the larger dataset; and 7.94 % wait until it is required, versus 5.24 % in the larger dataset.

Table 2. Experience with technology for rural interviews

Q1. Experience with different kinds of technology: (including desktop 

or laptop computers, tablets, smartphones, and the internet).

Rural 

Percentage a

Overall Dataset 

Percentage a

 ̈ I have limited experience using technology and I don’t know 

much about how technology works.

3.17 % 1.05 %

 ̈ I have some knowledge about how technology works, but often 

need to ask for help to perform more advanced activities – such 

as to configure the privacy settings on my cell phone.

15.87 % 10.99 %

 ̈ I can do most things that I want to do with technology and only 

need help occasionally.

65.08 % 71.20 %

 ̈ I can do all things that I want to do with technology without help 

from others.

17.46 % 18.85 %

Q2. In general, when do you adopt new technologies?

Rural 

Percentage a

Overall Dataset 

Percentage a

 ̈ I try the latest technologies as soon as they come out. 17.46 % 19.90 %

 ̈ I follow technology trends. 28.57 % 38.22 %

 ̈ I let others work out the kinks first. 39.68 % 39.27 %

 ̈ I wait until my old technology dies. 12.70 % 8.38 %

 ̈ I only adopt new technologies when it’s required. 7.94 % 5.24 %

a The percentages do not sum to 100 % since participants could select more than one option

Thus, rural participants self-report having slightly less experience with and knowledge about technology, and 

they adopt technology slightly later than participants in the overall dataset. The protocol did not ask why 

participants chose the categories they did, so it is impossible to know why the rural numbers vary from the 

larger dataset, but one hypothesis might be that rural first responders have access to less technology for public 

safety than their urban and suburban counterparts, and as a result are less comfortable in their use of it and less 

likely to follow technology trends. This is discussed further in the results section (see Sec. 4.3.2).

3.2. Data collection challenges

One of the difficulties experienced during data collection revolved around gaining access to rural first 

responders. Making an initial contact with rural first responders was hindered by the fact that many did not 

have department phones, emails, or websites, often utilizing personal cell phones and emails for 

communication. As noted in Volume 1, in many instances, gaining access to first responders was dependent on 

referrals from personal and/or professional contacts, or on the use of snowball sampling [2]. This access issue 

was magnified, as well as challenges with logistics, for the rural demographic. Once contact was made, rural first 
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responders were very interested in participating, noting how they often felt left out of research since they were 

so “small” and as a result felt that their voices did not matter.

In addition to being difficult to initiate contact, it was often difficult to physically access many of these rural 

areas, especially given some of the terrain and remoteness of the locations. Researchers also had to prepare for 

a lack of connectivity; GPS did not always function in some of the areas, making navigation difficult and 

necessitating that offline maps be downloaded in advance. From a time and resource perspective, data 

collection in these rural departments and agencies costs much more than data collection in metropolitan areas.

These data collection challenges may be one reason why rural first responders represent an understudied 

population, and another reason why it is such an important population to examine here.

4. Findings 

The following sections present findings from data analysis of the interviews with rural first responders. The best 

way to present these findings is by using the words of those rural first responders who participated. The 

participant responses reported in this Volume are exemplars representative of the larger rural dataset. All direct 

participant responses are verbatim in blue text and come directly from participant transcripts. The convention 

for referencing these data is the following. Participant responses are followed by a reference in parentheses that 

is comprised of three parts: discipline (FF; EMS; LE; COMMS); city type (in this case, R = Rural); and interview 

number. Thus (FF-R-009) refers to an interview with a fire fighter, from a rural location, who is fire interviewee 

number 009. This convention provides assurances to the reader of the data’s provenance and that the data can 

quickly and easily be located within the larger dataset when necessary. Note also that moving forward in this 

document the term urban is used to denote both urban and suburban areas that are found in urban and urban 

cluster locations.

4.1. Characteristics of rural first responders

As noted in Volume 1 [2], it is important to know and understand user characteristics when designing 

technology. Hackos and Redish [10] note the importance of considering user characteristics beyond their tasks, 

such as motivation and relationship to work, in their seminal usability textbook. Several related characteristics 

stood out in the rural dataset when first responders described their work. One was the passion and pride they 

have for their work, which cuts across all four of the first responder disciplines and is similar to the ways in 

which first responders in the overall dataset spoke about their work. Their commitment is to helping people and 

to providing service, and they love their work because it allows them to do this. Many rural participants spoke of 

“loving” their job, of the “satisfaction” they have in doing it, and of how “rewarding” their work is.

I love my job. It’s very rewarding. It’s great to help people when they’re in need, when 

they’re having the worst day of their life. But it can be stressful because not every day, 

not every shift ends well and there are times when you just can’t help someone as best 

you want to, you can’t. (EMS-R-019)

It's the greatest show on earth... It's fantastic. (LE-R-017)

It's very satisfying to know you can help somebody. (COMMS-R-013)

Rural participants, like their urban counterparts, are dedicated to the profession, enjoy their work and find it 

rewarding. However, rural first responders also expressed a contradiction about their work—that it could be 

interesting and exciting but also boring.
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Well I would say that [it] can be boring I think sometimes. I think too that you know it's 

good work. It's important work. (COMMS-R-009)

Again, it's a rural area. You're kind of out by yourself. We only run three deputies per shift, 

and they have a pretty good geographic area to cover. It's boredom, you've got to watch 

the animals, we have a lot of deer wrecks, and just being a rural area, and a lot of times, 

our deputies are stuck out on maybe a serious call, sometimes 15-20 minutes by 

themselves, because their nearest backup may be 15 miles across [county redacted3], so 

it gets a little boring, but it's pretty interesting. (LE-R-054)

This contradiction was not present in the overall dataset and is something that sets the rural data apart. Urban

first responders certainly spoke of their work as interesting and exciting, but never as boring.

In general, rural first responders love their work, in part because they care about the people and the 

communities they serve. They see their job as helping people and as being part of a public safety community.

The quotes below are examples of what we heard across the disciplines from rural first responders.

Pretty much, we're going to go help anybody that needs help, whether it's medical, fire, 

anything like that. If they need something, just call the fire department, we'll come and 

help them. I'd say that we're at their disposal for them. So if it was really coming down to, 

"What do we do?" just be anything for the citizens we work for, pretty much. (FF-R-009)

We're one of [counties redacted] that still go and unlock vehicles. So we have the services 

of unlocking vehicles if we can. If we can assist you, we'll do it. (COMMS-R-010)

We have kids that come in after school... kids can come here and we’ll put them on the 

computer and let them do homework and let them hang out here after school so we try 

to be really, really inclusive a family environment here. (LE-R-048)

Like their urban counterparts, rural first responders are committed to public service and dedicated to the 

communities they serve.

4.2. Characteristics of rural communities

The context of rural first responder work is linked to the type of communities they serve, and their perceptions 

of these communities. In addition, the nature of rural communities is often linked to the types of resources

present, from geographic to financial. When rural first responders described their communities, they often 

noted the “rural” nature of the areas and what that meant to them. For some, it meant large, expansive areas 

that were sparsely populated, while for others it meant small communities that were close-knit and connected.

It's very rural. We don't have a very high crime rate. (COMMS-R-010)

Well like I said it’s a lot of farmland. We do have some small towns but they’re not real 

towns really. Some of them have a couple hundred people in them and it’s mostly the 

folks outside of there that we’re also serving so the sheriff’s department we serve kind of 

all of these rural areas here out here and those areas that don’t have their own police 

departments especially. (LE-R-046)

3 Throughout the data, potentially identifying details have been redacted from participant quotes.
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[The call volume is] not very high. Like I say we're small. We don't see as much... as many 

calls as other agencies do. We actually did some training, where they took us to a larger 

facility [urban city redacted] and we saw their call volume compared to ours, oh my God 

[Laughing], oh my God. Yeah, so we maybe get, on a slow day we'll get anywhere from 2 

to 3 calls. And on a busy day it could be anywhere from 10 to 15 calls. (COMMS-R-014)

While these descriptions of rural are different, they are connected in that they describe small communities and 

sparsely populated areas that are connected by large expanses of land (whether farmland, wilderness, or other 

types of areas).

Many rural first responders also described the family-oriented nature of their agencies and communities, and 

the ways in which they felt supported by them.

If I had to describe the job, I would say it's a family-oriented department that we work 

for, a real tight-knit group. (FF-R-009)

The community here, everybody kind of treats everybody as family. I know that there is a 

lot of, I guess, issues with police officers right now. I haven't ever encountered that in 

[county redacted]. Like I've walked into a grocery store in uniform, and I get people, ‘thank 

you for your service.’ I don't have anybody calling me derogatory names or anything, so 

definitely it feels like a family in this [area]. (COMMS-R-012)

So it’s a good ol’ boy city or county you know with everybody knows each other, 

everybody goes to church with each other. (EMS-R-007)

In many cases, this family orientation means that rural residents often expect first responders to answer a wide 

variety of calls and to help them with a wide variety of different problems, many of them outside the scope of 

more fundamental first responder duties surrounding protecting life and property.

I had a lady call who her refrigerator door was stuck, she needed her refrigerator opened. 

(COMMS-R-014)

That's the uniqueness of our position at the sheriff's office. We do a wide variety of calls 

where most sheriffs' offices won’t even answer those calls... like we still unlock vehicles.

Any--we respond to any case or any call that comes into the radio room. If someone, like 

this morning for instance, a woman was mad because her grandmother posted a picture 

of her child on her Facebook account. So agencies, this to them would have been like, this 

is--we're not going out--we're not coming out for that. But here in the sheriff's office we 

respond to all—because at that moment, that is their emergency. (LE-R-052)

This expectation to help anybody that needs help means being able to juggle many different roles. While call 

volumes may be low in rural communities, first responders are often expected to respond to all sorts of 

emergencies and incidents. Their willingness and ability to respond play a large role in the community’s 

perception and support of them.

Additionally, the close-knit nature of many rural communities makes the work very emotionally charged for rural 

first responders who live and work there.
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... when you’re on a scene and it’s involving your friends who, people that you know and 

treat like family it makes it harder and everybody knows everybody you know, kind of a 

deal in these small towns so we want our stuff to work. (FF-R-048)

While first responders in general care deeply about the people and communities they serve, it is “harder” when 

you are called to a scene and face an incident involving family and friends.

4.3. Unique challenges faced by rural first responders

In many ways, rural first responders are similar to their urban counterparts. They love their work and find it 

exciting and worthwhile. They all respond to incidents with the goal of protecting life and property, and they all 

face challenges while trying to do that work. However, the types of incidents they respond to and the challenges 

they face are often unique to the rural context in which they do their work. Data from this project show these 

challenges to be concentrated in two major areas: geographic challenges and resource challenges. Differences in 

geography and topography play key roles in the types of incidents rural first responders face and the ways in 

which they can and do respond. In addition, while many first responder departments and agencies face resource

challenges, these seem to be especially problematic in rural areas. For example, the lack of hospitals in rural 

environments is a major difference that influences how rural first responders experience and respond to 

incidents. Below, we focus specifically on those challenges that make the rural environment and experience 

unique for first responders.

4.3.1. Geographic challenges

While rural geography varies across the country, it is also similar in many ways. For example, rural first 

responder departments and agencies typically cover large distances, which often include remote areas. The 

particularities of rural geography present unique challenges for rural first responders, from the types of 

incidents that occur to the types of communication problems they face and the types of technology they need.

Size and characteristics 

The physical size of the community that rural first responders cover and the distances they often need to travel 

pose specific issues for rural first responders. Size, distance, and isolation have implications for response times, 

both getting to an incident and transportation to facilities such as hospitals.

It’s large and sparsely populated... maybe 15 000 to 20 000 people in a county that’s one 

of the top 5 largest counties in [state redacted]. So for that you have, you know, mostly 

farmers or people that are just trying to live off the grid. So you got larger tracks of 

property, people live farther apart, people are trying to get out of the city. They’re trying 

to avoid the noise, the congestion so they come out here and that’s good until you need 

something like us and you don’t realize that, ‘Oh, I do live way out of the city and it’s great 

but now I need an ambulance and they’re 30 minutes away,’ you know. (EMS-R-018)

With large areas to cover, it often takes longer to get to an incident, making response times slower. This can 

certainly have implications for rural first responders’ ability to efficiently accomplish their primary task of 

protecting people and property in the communities they serve.

Additionally, it is sometimes difficult for rural first responders to find an incident since there may or may not be 

an actual address associated with a location (third barn on the right of the lane that’s just off the dirt road, for 

example) and GPS does not always provide accurate directions or in some cases any directions. While the data 
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from urban areas also highlight the lack of accurate caller location information, this issue seems to be 

exacerbated in rural areas where distances (and thus response times) are greater. The comment below from a 

911 dispatcher is illustrative of what we heard from rural first responders.

There are a lot of instances where we have to look up stuff for our guys because... we are 

the country and some of the addresses don't-- aren't easy to find. (COMMS-R-014)

Difficulty finding and accessing locations, and sometimes not having addresses at all, means longer response 

times as rural first responders search for locations. While urban first responders also face issues related to 

location-based information, the problems are different and will demand different types of solutions [7].

Another issue is the isolation present in many rural areas, for example those that have large expanses of 

farmland or the remoteness of wilderness areas. Often, this has implications for access to communication, and

rural first responders often experience a lack of signal and/or service.

Obviously we're rural, so the radio communication isn't the best. (LE-R-002)

So it's hard to reach certain places, but your southern area is the same thing. So you'll 

lose service, particularly the further south you go. (COMMS-R-012)

Because it--there are places in [county redacted] where the radios still don’t work. If they 

do work, it's hard to get out on them, or they can’t hear. There are places in [county 

redacted] where cell phones won’t work. Or the computers won’t work. So you have to 

have all three of these nowadays. It's hard in our job to limit one and expect it to be 100

% successful in any operation. (LE-R-052)

There are a lot of places especially in our county that are remote where we just don’t get 

a signal so that’s a problem. This is a lot of farmland. This is a lot of places that are kind of 

remote. (LE-R-046)

Most rural first responders noted how coverage is often a problem, making communication difficult in many 

areas. Even when they have technology, like radios, cell phones, and computers, they often “don’t work.” In 

addition, some rural first responders do not believe that additional technology can actually address the 

geographic challenges they face. Similar to findings in the full dataset [7], rural first responders prefer to have 

the communication technology that they currently use work better rather than newer technology that they are 

not sure will help them given the geographic context of their work.

I think we’ve got about everything we need out here... it’s so remote that I don’t know 

what we could have that would really help... it’s not like cameras are really good help...

when you think about technology maybe you think about drones-- that’s not going to help 

us out here. What’s that going to do for us? I just don’t think there’s a whole lot of other 

kind of technology that we need that’s going to help us do our job better, really. (LE-R046)

In many cases, technology fails rural first responders, often as a result of the geographical characteristics that 

are part of their context of work. In addition to the physical size and space of rural areas, the topography is also 

different, which can also contribute to coverage and communication issues.

And everyone knows that in a lot of wilderness areas, you're not going to have radio 

communications because you can't put a radio tower in there. And generally, wilderness 
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areas are high and mountainous, which means there's valleys and radio signals don't get 

into valleys. (LE-R-019)

Well whenever they go into certain areas in [county redacted], 'cause we are in the 

country and it's real country here, a lot of trees and it's a lot of back roads and stuff, they 

won't be able to hear the information we're giving them and we can't hear the 

information they're giving us. (COMMS-R-014)

Mountains, water, caves and other topographic challenges contribute to communication issues faced by rural 

first responders.

The geography and topography also influence the types of incidents rural first responders deal with (farm 

implements accidents or rock-climbing falls, for example).

Most of our incidents are wild lands/grass fires stuff like that. You know field fires, brush,

stuff like that-- hay bales. (FF-R-048)

The big river, when the snow melts, we got a lot of rafting accidents. (LE-R-019)

Some of these types of incidents require specialized training and equipment, which rural first responder

agencies and departments may or may not have depending on their financial resources.

So anything like that, two acres, we could put out with our brush truck pretty quick, 

especially in the morning like that. Our brush truck could put out two acres within, I don't 

know, 5 or 10 minutes. (FF-R-009)

Being a very active community we do a lot of back country rescue and communications 

again is one of our biggest issues. So we kind of look at different ways that we can improve 

communications and have backup communications for those responders that are going 

out into the field because, especially during winter with avalanches, there’s so many 

additional hazards that the responders face out there. (FF-R-046)

The equipment needed, both for rescue and for communication, varies for rural first responders based on the 

types of incidents they experience. Whether the context involves deer rutting season or tractor accidents, 

specific tools and training are often required.

Urban first responders also deal with incidents specific to their environments, but this again highlights how the 

one-size-fits-all approach may not work for first responder communication technology. What is needed when 

fighting wildland and grass fires is going to be different than what is needed when dealing with a subway fire.

Understanding the contexts in which rural first responders work is imperative in understanding the type of 

technology they need.

Seasonal nature of incidents 

As noted above, many of the incidents rural first responders deal with are related to the geographic and 

topographic contexts of rural areas. Many of the incidents also relate to the seasonal nature of the climate in 

these areas (brush fires, avalanches, and flooding, for example) as well as the tourism that is the focus of some 

rural areas. As FF-R-046 notes above: “especially during winter with avalanches, there’s so many additional 

hazards that the responders face out there.”
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The wildlife-- we get calls on those everyday, or livestock. If it’s a sheep, we run sheep 

from spring to fall. They go back and forth and it just becomes just people calling in you 

know one lone sheep will get left and people don’t like seeing lone sheep out. (COMMSR-008)

So our busiest time is basically middle of December through New Year's. That's when we 

have the most people. (FF-R-024)

In this case, it is not the geography itself that poses a challenge, but the types of activities that happen during 

particular times of the year.

The seasonal nature of tourism and special events leads to an increase and decrease in population and call 

volume.

Summer [call volume] goes up. There’s two months in the summer it pretty much doubles 

which is July and August, and then winter. So our average is about a hundred calls for 

service a day, and so in the summer it’s, you know, 200 calls a day. Some winter-- we will 

get [high call volume] in the winter at certain holidays. Like president’s weekend is a big 

ski time so everybody, you know, have a bump up in calls then... if there’s certain events 

going on-- so it’s very driven, it’s driven by tourism. Who is coming and going you know 

what activities are being promoted. (COMMS-R-010)

And then we also have extra things besides just the daily duties that are actually even 

bigger in the summer which are special events. So there's rodeos. There's concerts. 

There's bike events. There's white water stuff with kayaking. There's weddings. There's 

visiting dignitaries. There's just all stuff that just comes with the summer. And then there's 

busy weekends like 4th of July weekend or holiday weekends, or there's a big concert in 

town, so suddenly we have 30 000 extra people in town. (EMS-R-007)

Many rural first responders spoke about the difficulty in dealing with the increased call volume they experience 

during times of year when their populations increase due to an influx of tourists. Adequately staffing and 

responding to high call volumes becomes a major challenge for these departments and agencies.

Another related issue is that given the high number of tourists, many people who need help do not know the 

area and are unable to give an accurate location for where they are. This is complicated by the situation 

described in the previous section where many rural locations do not have specific addresses. In addition, many 

people are often driving or passing “through” rural areas, they are not necessarily destinations in and of 

themselves. This means they do not know the terrain and how to operate in it, which can lead to accidents and 

other incidents requiring assistance by rural first responders.

Well it’s, as you know, kind of a tourist community in a rural area, so the calls vary widely 

depending on the time of the year. In the winter we handle a number of ski calls injuries, 

motor vehicle accidents just because of slick roads and that sort of thing, some avalanche 

calls. I guess exposure calls would be other ones and then the typical, you know,

vacationers and that can be at any time either summer or winter with the bar fights or 

the things like that so, during when summer is more outdoor we have a lot of tech rescues 

that happen in remote areas of the county that often have to have extra different types 

of apparatus to get to the location and sometimes swift water rescues,so a variety. Many 
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people don’t know where they are so our interest in technology that helps us to find 

people is important. (COMMS-R-008)

Urban first responders also face seasonal issues, such as incidents in extreme weather [3], however the issues 

are different in rural environments, exacerbated by the nature and size of rural geography.

4.3.2. Resource challenges

Our data show that rural first responder departments face significant resource challenges and often tend to be 

very under-resourced, although there are notable exceptions, which will be discussed below. Rural communities 

face challenges related to financial resources, personnel resources, and infrastructure resources, all of which 

influence the ability of rural first responders to accomplish their primary tasks efficiently, effectively, and safely.

Financial resources 

Rural first responders in this study described how their departments suffered from a lack of funding, and the 

implications of this for their work. Across disciplines, rural first responders noted how their funding often came 

from fundraisers or was highly dependent on support from their communities, and how this funding was 

woefully inadequate to support their work and the tools they need to accomplish it.

It's all--everything in the public sector is about money. You have a limited supply of it.

People think you don't. But we get 6 mils property tax that's all we have. No sales tax. No 

user fees. No nothing. We get 6 mils property tax and our tax is based--is dependent on 

the value of the nuclear plant which reduced 4 % every year. So my budget constantly 

goes down and my expenses go up and my needs go up. So I mean... that's where we're 

at. (FF-R-051)

You’re never going to have enough money to do everything you want to do right now. It’s 

just not the way emergency services works. It’s all plea to the public for money, you know.

So it’s frustrating, but, you know, every day when you go out there you need to keep that 

in mind. These people are the ones that are paying for you so when you go out there you 

know you can’t say, ‘oh you’re an idiot you called 911 for this?’ You have to, like I say,

solve the problem, fix it that’s what they’re calling you for, so you know that helps you in 

the long run. They think back on that and say, ‘oh man, I think I’m going to vote yes for 

this cause because it helps the ambulance.’ (EMS-R-018)

It is a huge issue. I mean funding is a huge issue. Up until I think we’re coming up on the 

first year of having the sales tax for our county and other than that we were funded by a 

yearly fundraiser. It was basically the town donating their personal money to protect 

them basically you know and that was I think the state did allow some funding, but I mean 

it wasn’t enough to make a difference. If a truck went down that truck’s gone until we can 

save up the money or get a grant or figure out something to fix that truck. I mean we were 

living year to year as a department you know and that depended on the size of the 

department and the size of the town. (FF-R-048)

While rural first responders often expressed frustration at having to plead for funding or rely on fundraisers, 

they also recognized the importance of having a positive public presence for continued support of their work, 

whether that support is through local taxes or fundraisers.
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Many rural first responders also noted how they often struggled to even provide basic gear and tools for their 

personnel with the little funding they did receive, making access to technology secondary in many cases.

Normally you know in a lot of these places the stuff is held together by what the guys do 

in the station. They’re not going to pay for a new light bar because a tree fell and hit the 

light bar and broke it so now you’re running with a broken light bar but if you fix it in the 

station nobody’s going to say anything you know so you fix that stuff, you get it going. 

Same with people will put their own tools, people go buy their own organization for the 

maintenance. They’ll take their own box that they pay 10 bucks for at Target and they’ll 

bring it in and put everything in there you know so it’s organized and easy to get to, help 

everybody out. You see us just working with it you know making it work but nobody really 

sees that unless they are told or are shown because they just think oh that’s the way we 

paid for all that. You know we pay your salaries, we pay for all of that. No, we pay for like 

we pay out of our own pockets for a lot of this stuff, so you know that’s just something 

that we do. If we need it we’ll pull money together and we’ll do it you know. (EMS-R-018)

We got a couple of guys don’t even have gear and well until they just got some wildland 

gear but at a structure fire, they can’t go to a structure fire. They can show up on a car 

wreck you know we’ve got guys here that are you know it’s getting to the point where 

we’ve got to get some more gear but you’re talking just the coat and pants alone are 

about $3 500 that’s not including boots, that’s not including helmet, that’s not including 

gloves you know, that’s not including you know radios, you need hand tools, flashlights 

you know I mean there’s a lot of hand tools that would be nice to equip every guy to have 

you know just for breaking glass you know but we have to have everything up to code. 

We can’t just go down the hardware store per se and get a hammer you know to do this 

and that. Would it probably work? Yeah but inspection wise we got to have everything 

you know the fire tools that work better you know for our stuff. (FF-R-048)

All the radar I’ve bought have all been used. A new radar is about $2 100. I haven’t paid 

more than $400 for a radar unit. It costs me $70 to get it serviced so less than $500 I got 

a perfectly good radar unit and it’s not shiny and brand new in the box, but you know 

what it comes down to function... (LE-R-048)

Rural first responders often have to buy their own tools, buy used equipment, or use old and/or out of date gear 

and materials. This often goes unnoticed by the public, who believe they adequately support their first 

responders, whether through fundraisers or taxes.

In addition, codes, certifications, and training required for first responders and their gear and tools make things 

more expensive (as with the example of hammers noted above by a rural fire fighter) and often unattainable.

My long-range planning is really what I spend a lot of time on because it's hard to 

determine, again, with our transient volunteers, again, through no fault of their own, 

what are their needs going to be. How do we need to make them successful in our 

organization? What classes are going to be available and at what cost? Classes are getting 

more and more expensive. We were just talking this morning. There is a class-- we're 

getting our last guy through it, which as we've gotten everybody else through, was 100 
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bucks just to-- the tuition to get into class. That doesn't include the supplies, and hotel, 

and everything to get through it. But that class is now 500 bucks. (FF-R-019)

The reason why we’re not going to get recertified [for stun guns] is just for our small 

agency it’s about $2 000 per recertification because each one of those little cartridges are 

about $25 a piece and you have to have two cartridges per recertification and you 

multiply that by 20 something or 30 something people it’s a ton of money.

(LE-R-048)

Many rural first responder departments and agencies do not have the financial resources to supply their staff 

with gear, tools, and/or education to meet state and federal requirements, potentially putting them in danger or 

disqualifying them from working.

The lack of financial resources to adequately support rural first responder departments and agencies means that 

having access to up-to-date gear and tools is their first concern. Even when asked what technology they would 

like to have for incident response if they could have anything they wanted (see Appendix B for interview 

questions), participants responded with the basics; not the new technology their urban counterparts were likely 

to list. New technology is rarely mentioned as something they want or need, since it is often out of their reach.

First and foremost, I’d ask, I want all my firemen to have brand new gear. I want them 

safe. I want well we’ve got a couple of the trucks that we need updated. Those would be 

the first things and then from there it would be the tools. It would be jaws, it would be 

just new hand tools you know whether it’s Halligan’s, whether it’s you know, just-- I mean 

anything you know-- just seat belt cutters, just stuff that you know-- we could equip all of 

our guys that way we’re not searching in trucks going, “which truck is out again,” you 

know everybody’s like, “okay I’ve got mine right here, we’re good,” you know-- just that 

way our new SCBA’s, our air masks. (FF-R-048)

I know that little counties like [county redacted] to the south of us or [city redacted], have 

they have one dispatcher on duty. They have no money. Their CAD system is Microsoft 

Word. A lot of times they just write stuff on a tablet and then type it into a word processor 

later and enter the times that they looked at their watch to get the times. They can't buy 

any of this stuff. But they have crime there, and they have people that get sick there, and 

heart attacks, and all of that kind of stuff. So where are all of these different comm centers 

supposed to go to get their money? It's all the user agencies, the taxpayer money now. I 

don't have a lot of confidence in our political structure that we have. (COMMS-R-002)

Similar to the 911 dispatcher quoted above, some first responders expressed a lack of “confidence” in the 

politics related to funding, and frustration at how this affected their work. As the fire fighter below notes, being 

“so underfunded” can put them at risk, which may influence their willingness and ability to do their jobs.

And it is like when I come home from my main job I-- sometimes it’s not that I don’t want 

to go out and do the work, fight the fire you know, work an extrication, something job 

related, it’s the BS in politics that go with it. It scares me being out here as a first responder 

because we are so underfunded and limited in our resources from gear to technology.

(FF-R-049)
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This lack of trust in budgets and the politics surrounding them resonates with the findings in the larger dataset, 

where first responders from across the U.S. articulated similar concerns about their budgets. One difference, 

however, is that in the larger dataset first responders spoke about how budget issues had an impact on their 

ability to buy and access new technology, whereas in the rural data, they spoke about how budget issues 

influenced their ability to buy basic gear and equipment, and even how it might put them in danger.

While rural and urban first responder departments and agencies all have budget concerns, there are issues that 

are unique to the rural environment, including the ways in which departments and agencies are funded. Many 

operate with the bare minimum and are unable to even provide access to basic gear and tools. The financial 

burdens they face seem different than those of their urban counterparts. Most important to them is having 

adequate and up-to-date gear and tools, not new technology. Technology such as license plate readers, for 

example, were never mentioned in the rural environment. The cost of this technology, and the statewide 

systems that they rely on, are not even on their radar. Even a nominal fee might be more than a rural 

department can afford. While budgets in urban areas may be less than they would like, the financial burden 

seems different for rural first responder departments and agencies.

Haves and have nots 

As previously noted, the rural context matters when considering communication and technology. There is not 

one monolithic “rural” context, especially as relates to financial resources. All rural is not poor and all poor is not 

rural.

We're sitting in the million-dollar addition that we had to build because we were no longer 

getting volunteers from the town. And we were having guys coming here from [city 

redacted] and [city redacted] sleep in bathrooms because there was no place for them to 

stay here. Because prior to that, everybody had a house relatively close to the fire station. 

They used to respond here and grab a truck. Well, nobody lives in town, and we're still 

getting calls, so--. (FF-R-019)

There are some rural areas that are quite wealthy, depending on their context, with very different budgets for 

first responders. Rural areas with high tourist populations (and the funding that comes from tourism) have very 

different financial resources than other rural areas, in some ways creating a system of rural “Haves and Have 

Nots”. For example, many popular resort destinations for skiing, hiking, or other outdoor activities are in rural 

areas. They are often characterized by million-dollar mansions and high costs of living. This means that many 

rural first responders cannot afford to live in the area where they work. Some first responders choose to leave 

when they cannot afford to live there, however wealthy rural departments can do things to mitigate this, such 

as build facilities for their responders, something many rural departments cannot imagine doing.

First responders recognize this disparity, and what it means for first responders—that some have access and 

others do not.

Honestly, what it comes down to, we all got to go to it, so we got to find the funding so 

that we can get there and it'll be and it’ll work, because there's going to be some small 

counties in this state that can't afford to do this, and that funding’s got to be there for 

them... And that's what we have you know, they went to a new system and we didn’t 

because it wasn’t talked about, planned financially, or any other reason to plan and then 

now, the ones with the most money [that are spending on] the technology get farther 
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and farther away from those who can't afford it, or have the knowledge, I mean they may 

not even have the -- I wouldn't be surprised that there are some [city redacted] 911 

centers that have no idea about [Next-Generation 911]. (COMMS-R-020)

... you got districts in this county, like us, who are pretty well funded. You get districts in 

this county, like [city redacted], they are completely volunteer. Their budget is, I mean--

we give them our used equipment because they need it. They have no money to spend 

on anything, so how are you going to apply technology evenly across even as small an 

area as our county and make sure that it benefits everybody? (EMS-R-008)

I was at a training deal extrication class and one of the instructors was the [city redacted] 

Fire Department... he [the instructor] goes, ‘it’s funny listening to you guys talk you know 

you’re going gosh I wish we could get a truck you know, I wish we could get you know 

jaws.’ Get this, he goes, ‘we got guys complaining because their gloves are a month old,’

and I looked at him and I said, ‘we got gear that’s been out of date for ten years.’

(FF-R-048)

In the quote above from fire service participant 048, he is relaying a story from an extrication class he attended.

He is from a district where they struggle to provide basic equipment, while the instructor he is speaking to is 

from a well-funded district where some responders complain “because their gloves are a month old.” Both 

recognize the financial inequities that exist in their respective rural areas, as do the other participants quoted 

above. In many cases, departments have to utilize old, used, and possibly out of date gear and equipment, while 

others are able to purchase and provide the latest technology and equipment. This is certainly an inequitable

situation, and one that may put some first responders at greater risk than their wealthier counterparts as they 

respond to incidents, along with the public they serve.

Personnel resources 

Many rural first responders spoke about a variety of different ways in which human resources were a major 

challenge for them. One rural firefighter noted that “Financial and staffing are the two biggest [issues]” (FF-R019) they face. The personnel issues faced by rural first responder agencies and departments are often related 

to broader financial issues. Smaller budgets make recruiting, hiring, and maintaining staff much more difficult. It 

is almost impossible to attract and keep personnel when the pay is low, and when the work is not what they 

expected, and departments often suffer from not having enough personnel to adequately staff their shifts. In 

addition, funding does not always exist to hire specialized personnel. In some cases, this means that one person

must fill several roles. In other cases, the specialized training they need due to the types of seasonal and 

geographic incidents they face is extremely difficult to attain from a financial resources perspective.

Recruiting, hiring, and maintaining staff is often difficult in the rural environment. Sometimes it is difficult to 

even find people interested in applying as first responders in rural departments.

Well first off you get them here and second off you keep them here. (FF-R-048)

So as to why people aren't applying, whether that's part of it. In our local community, it 

is a high cost of living area. We do get a lot of people that come here, realize they're not 

going to be able to afford to buy a home or get out of the apartment. Put in a couple of 

years and leave to go to a lower cost of living or bigger city. We don't have all the areas 

of operations or responsibilities that a true city would have. We don't have a vice unit, 
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and a motor unit, and a traffic unit. So you may come here, and you may be a patrol guy 

for 20 years, and there's nothing wrong with that, but if that's not what you think you're 

going to do with your career, or that's not okay with you, it's not going to work out. (LER-019)

As noted by the participants above, hiring and keeping first responders is often a challenge. Once they do apply

and are hired, they often only stay for a few years, and attrition is a major problem for rural first responder 

department and agencies. As noted by the EMS participant below, most of them end up leaving after a few 

years.

And those are generally younger people, and they generally have a more flexible 

schedule. They generally have less home responsibilities. They're generally more eager to 

work on trying to get a full-time job. So we home-grow a lot of those people into 

paramedics here. Not all of them. In fact, probably the majority of them end up going 

someplace else after doing a few years here. (EMS-R-007)

Yeah, and [the high turnover rate has] always been that way. The guys get here, they put 

in four or five, they get some training and experience, and then they decide it's time to 

start looking somewhere else. Some of them recognizing, as they mature, they gain 

knowledge and wisdom. As an adult, and actually start thinking about retirement, and 

where they're wanting to be, and whether it's a pension, or a 401(k), and then the work 

situation and overtime, and how much they can make. That they're young enough, that 

the time is now to make that decision to go somewhere else. (LE-R-019)

Rural first responders may leave when they realize that their rural jobs do not and cannot provide them with 

what they want financially, or when they realize that they will not be able to move up to do the type of work 

they are most interested in. Younger responders often use employment in rural areas as stepping-stones for 

their careers, leaving after only a few years. This means that a department has spent time and money training 

them, only to lose them down the road, depleting their resources even more. It may also be a contributing 

factor to the differences in years of service between the rural dataset and the overall dataset, where the 

number of rural first responders who leave in the first five years (17.74 %) is over 50 percent more than in the 

overall dataset (10.99 %) (see Sec. 3).

For many rural departments, this means staffing levels are always a problem, and they rarely have sufficient 

numbers of staff to cover shifts.

...our biggest problem is limited number of people. (FF-R-048)

We got really short several years ago. We used to run day shift, evening shift, and night 

shift like everybody else. We got really short and we were looking into how we can cover 

more time with fewer people... (COMMS-R-019)

In part, this is due to less people applying to be first responders in rural areas, in addition to the high attrition 

rates they face. In other instances, staffing issues are a result of the seasonal nature of the work, as discussed in 

a previous section.

It's a nightmare to staff because how do you staff full-time, qualified people when your 

call volume in May might be 200 calls in a month, and my call volume in January is 700 
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calls in a month. So I have to be able to expand and contract responsively, because you 

can't build the church for Easter Sunday [laughter]. Taxpayer's money, it just doesn't 

work. It's not sustainable. So I have two paramedics in every ambulance, and then in the 

winter, I hire EMTs who do seasonal work, and have some other job as their main job. You 

have to get very creative about staffing around here. (EMS-R-008)

This often forces rural departments and agencies to “get very creative” with the personnel resources they do 

have and how they use them.

Another issue faced by many rural departments is their inability to hire specialized personnel. There is rarely 

enough money to be able to hire an information technology (IT) specialist, a web/social media person, or even 

human resources personnel. One result is that one person is often tasked with doing a variety of different types 

of work, from human resources to IT to patrolling.

Being in the area we are, I do everything. I will handle everything from a homicide to 

hanging Christmas lights. And it could be all in the same day. (LE-R-017)

Yeah. So, obviously, I have a lot of administrative work because I am the HR manager. I'm 

the fire chief. I'm also our IT guy. So I do all of that. (FF-R-019)

Often, those having to cover these different tasks do not have specialized training, for example in IT or in web 

design, meaning that those areas often suffer from a lack of expertise and time. In addition, as previously noted, 

many rural departments do not have specialized staff positions and units, such as vice or detective, and often 

need specialized personnel such as wildfire or search and rescue experts. However, largely due to budget 

constraints, it is almost impossible for most rural first responder departments and agencies to provide for the 

various types of specialized personnel needed.

Rural volunteers 

Many rural areas rely on volunteers to provide adequate staffing and incident response. While this is more 

prevalent for rural fire and EMS departments, we also heard of volunteer issues with some law enforcement 

departments. As noted above, rural first responder departments and agencies in general have trouble attracting 

and maintaining paid personnel. Similarly, volunteer departments and agencies have difficulty attracting and 

keeping volunteers, often for the same reasons: pay and advancement.

We also live in a resort community, and we have a lot of transient population. And so as 

a volunteer comes in here, and the society expects them to have the same certs as a paid 

individual, even though they're volunteers. And we live in a high-cost area, so they have 

two or three jobs in order to maintain a minimum standard of living. On top of that, 

they're now required by the public to have the same certs as a paid guy, which takes time 

away from their job... the life expectancy of a volunteer to maintain that internal and 

external standard is really, really difficult. (FF-R-019)

The amount of time a volunteer stays in their position is low, with many leaving once they recognize the 

demands on them for training, certifications, and time. In addition, the seasonal nature of some rural areas is 

problematic for keeping volunteers given that much of the population is “transient” and leaves after the season.

This means that volunteers themselves might leave, or that call volume goes down dramatically meaning that 

volunteers have less work and may need to leave in order to earn “a minimum standard of living.”
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Another similarity to paid rural departments and agencies, is the way that many use volunteering as a steppingstone to a paid career.

I am career now. I used to be, I used to volunteer here. (EMS-R-018)

Back in the day, when I started, it was more of the community. You are a part of your 

community. It was a way to give then your community, and so it was that volunteer 

community fire department. Nowadays, because of all the challenges that we've 

discussed there, and that change in the society, the only volunteers we're getting are the 

young college-age level kids that want a fire job, and so they're using this as a gateway to 

get experience and get in. And then as soon as they have the opportunity, they're gone. 

So our average is about three to five years. (FF-R-019)

In order to garner experience, many first responders begin as volunteers, such as the EMS participant above, 

and then move to career, paid positions, leaving volunteer departments and agencies with the costs for training 

but without a stable workforce in the end. This, along with the aforementioned younger responders using 

employment in rural areas as stepping-stones for their careers, may also be a contributing factor to the 

differences in the initial five years of service between the rural dataset and the overall dataset (see Sec. 3).

In general, volunteerism is declining, and many rural first responders spoke about the “steady decline” they 

have seen, both at home and across the country.

Volunteerism across the country, we know, is plummeting. The expectancy or the 

expectations of firefighters continues to astronomically grow, and so it's becoming more 

and more difficult to have volunteers who have time, commitment, and ability to do 

what's expected. And then with all those expectations comes enormous cost and trying 

to keep up with everything. (FF-R-019)

Well one thing is that across America, about 75 % of fire departments across America is 

volunteer. I can tell you that since I've been in the fire service, the volunteer fire services 

are a dying breed. We've seen a steady decline in the amount of volunteer fire service. I 

remember when my dad was a chief we probably was 400 or 500 members strong. People 

were able to be able to leave their jobs and now, it's just, it's dwindled away, the way we,

we get a working structure fire today, we may see 25 or 30 people there. So during the 

daytime. At nighttime, we might see 125 or 150 people at a nighttime fire... We're having 

to do cross training things, like years ago when I was growing up when my daddy was the 

fire chief, the fire department had no responsibility on medical emergencies. The 

ambulance service takes care of that. (LE-R-053)

This decline in volunteerism is due to many things, including the increased requirements for volunteers.

And I ain’t saying training is bad but there’s a difference between volunteer and paid 

people you know... We’re at work all day and then we have to go and take our training at 

night 2 to 3 times a week you know from 6 to 10 at night and then come back to your 

families or whatever, I mean it don’t go over very well for some you know. (FF-R-047)

Often, in order to meet these increased expectations and requirements, volunteers have to spend their own 

time and money getting training or certifications that allow them to volunteer.
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Another reason volunteerism may be down is that employers are no longer as likely to let employees leave to 

respond to incidents. In part, this is due to the fact that volunteers do not always work in the town where they 

live and/or volunteer.

And we understand that they have to work to take care of their families also. So, some 

we can get, they'll leave the job, and their job understands. So, it kind of weighs out for 

them. But some of them don't work in [county redacted], and they can't respond. So, it's 

a 50/50 chance that you get them. (COMMS-R-010)

But during the daytime, it just seems like owners of businesses, and they just don’t allow 

their employees to be able to go anymore. (LE-R-053)

You're no longer pulling your volunteers from your community because of the change of 

society. It's those who want to. So they might live in [city redacted]. They might live in 

other towns. So you have very few of our volunteers live in town. They have to commute 

here for the full shift. (FF-R-019)

One result is that volunteers today often do not live in the community in which they volunteer. They often live 

and/or work somewhere else, and employers are less likely to understand and “allow their employees to be able 

to go anymore.” Or volunteers have to commute in order to volunteer, making it more difficult for them to 

respond to an incident in time.

Finally, rural first responders spoke about the relationships between paid and volunteer first responders.

It depends really on who you are. If you are here and show an interest in helping them 

and teaching them and working with the volunteers they will share respect back to you 

on any given scene. You know it’s all in the way you communicate with them. You know

you yell at them, you get worked up with them or do you just calmly talk to them even in 

the worst situations because in truth they don’t even have to be there so you know when 

they get the call at night they can choose rather or not they’re going. We can’t choose 

and that’s what comes with the job so you need to understand that when you get out 

with these people. They’re out here and every finger they lift is a plus for you. It’s one 

finger you didn’t have to lift so it’s all based on how you talk to them I think. If you come 

over here, make yourself seen you know in classes with the EMR they’ll know who you 

are out on calls. They’re more likely to help you out. They’re more likely to jump in the 

back and listen to you when you say hey, will you put your finger here? Will you grab me 

this? Grab me that? If you show an interest in them they’ll show an interest in you and 

just don’t act mean to them. I mean a lot of people in this business will say you’re a 

volunteer, get out of here but coming from a volunteer background they’re necessary. I 

mean very necessary so you got to have them. (EMS-R-018)

As the EMS participant noted, it is important to develop relationships amongst career and volunteer first 

responders. Those relationships are magnified in rural areas, where good communications can improve the 

relationships.
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Infrastructure resources 

When thinking about the infrastructure required for rural first responders, it is necessary to consider the basic 

physical and organizational structures and facilities they need in order to accomplish their work. This can be 

buildings, roads, hospitals, communication coverage, and other related infrastructure first responders need to 

support incident response. Rural first responders often do not have department phones, emails, or websites—

their communication infrastructure is often minimal. As noted in previous sections, rural first responder 

departments and agencies often have problems with communication and coverage, due to a lack of radio towers 

and signal stations, and several spoke about how communication companies do not want to invest in rural areas, 

leaving them without much needed coverage. In certain rural areas, the lack of GPS can impact location 

navigation during incident response. Additionally, it is notable that occasionally there is no actual “building” that 

houses rural first responder departments, especially a totally volunteer department.

I’m getting some hot spots for our computers and stuff in the car but even here the county 

and stuff is just not what it needs to be. We have the community to actually send us hot 

spot information as far as wireless churches, businesses and stuff like that and I’ll send 

that list out to the deputies and they’ll go sit in front of the business and use their wireless

that’s hooked on to you know fiber optic or something that’ll be a lot higher speed but I 

mean ideal that’s what you want. You want your radios to work and you want your cell 

phones to work all over the county. I mean that’s pretty much it. I think the infrastructure 

[is] there, it’s just a matter of the-- having the capability of doing it wherever not having 

to worry about you know. We did a missing person scenario down towards [county 

redacted] in the national forest and nobody’s radio worked. (LE-R-048)

That technology is available, it's just a matter of do you have the money and the 

infrastructure to do it and the bandwidth to do it? (FF-R-051)

Rural first responders in this study spoke often about the need for basic infrastructure, like radios and cell 

phones that work “all over the county.” While some of this is about access to the technology itself, it is also 

about how well developed and supported wireless and other communication networks are in rural areas. Others 

spoke about buildings that are “bare bones”

Our budget certainly doesn't support a million-dollar building. And it's obviously not a Taj 

Mahal. We don't have marble. We don't have all this stuff that really costs a lot of money. 

This is bare bones, drywall and wood addition. (FF-R-019)

Some rural departments operate in buildings that are often insufficient for their needs and do not have the 

means to improve these, since public funding is limited.

Another example is the lack of auxiliary first responder services, such as hospitals and other medical facilities 

and resources found in rural areas, and the amount of time needed to access them.

For example, the LUCAS4 devices were real expensive for us down here but it was a 

necessity because we’re taking people 45 minutes [to a hospital], so that was a necessity 

(EMS-R-018)

4 LUCAS is an automated chest compression system for administering cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
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In an urban environment, first responders might have access to a multitude of different hospitals, while in a 

rural environment they might need to drive 45 minutes to get to the only hospital in the area.

Insufficient infrastructure and the inability to improve it is something that characterizes many rural areas, along 

with the first responder departments and agencies located there. The NPSBN is designed to address issues 

related to communication coverage for rural first responders, but there are also other pieces of infrastructure 

missing in rural areas that influence their ability to accomplish their primary task of protecting lives and 

property.

5. Discussion 

Rural first responders face problems and challenges specific to the contexts of their work, and as a result the 

technology they need may be different than what is needed in other environments. “Indeed, rural consumers 

have unique public safety needs, from devastating forest fires, floods and tornadoes, to concerns related to 

military and border facilities” [1]. Rural first responders, similar to those in the full dataset, emphasized that 

what they really want is for their current technology to work better, rather than new technology. As noted in 

Volume 1: “Participants consistently emphasized wanting their current technology to work. New technology is 

not always perceived as the right answer to the problems they face. Instead, they overwhelmingly spoke about 

how the improvement of current technology is what they want and what they believe will be most helpful,” [2].

The same is true for rural first responders. When asked a specific question about their “wish list,” rural first 

responders generally wished for current technology that worked better. Rural first responders know what works 

for them, and what would be most helpful as they engage in their primary responsibilities. They are interested in 

technology that will help them do their jobs better, such as a better radio system that worked across their 

response area.

I mean I think if I had a wish list for the Sheriff’s department it would be to have a better 

radio system as far as its reach, so it didn’t have areas in the county that didn’t have any 

cell service or any radio service. (LE-R-042)

For most first responders, their technology wish list means having current communication tools that work 

better, and that work in more places.

It is difficult to imagine how rural first responder departments and agencies that do not have basic gear will be 

able to purchase and access new technology. As many noted, it must be affordable, and they do not see new 

technology as within their reach—something that was also present in the larger dataset.

It has to be affordable, and that's the challenge. Of course, they're loosely related. I mean, 

there are companies out there that sell all this stuff, but it's never achievable for us. We'll 

never be able to spend $10 000 on a radio. We have a hard enough time spending-- right 

now, I mean, our radios are costing almost 4 grand for radio. And that's why we have 

older radios because we can't afford the new stuff. (FF-R-019)

If you got unlimited resources you can make phenomenal technology and I can come out 

here and put up digital towers, put high towers up in this county and have crazy good you 

know I can make it so that you know we can connect computers to it and everything else. 

I ain’t got that money so the question is how good can you have for what you can afford? 

You know you try to make the most of what you have and I don’t mind buying used stuff...
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If it’s good you use serviceable equipment. You save a ton of money and get more for 

your money and come out ahead on that, you know. (LE-R-048)

Rural first responders recognize that new tools and technologies are out there, but do not see them as realistic 

in their contexts, either in terms of their geographic or financial context.

Some rural first responders spoke specifically about the need for usability in any new technology developed to 

“help” them, and for the need to understand their context when new technology is developed.

Well... unless there's input from the users in developing and building it... that's the 

challenge that I see because if you're not sitting in that chair, dispatching, taking calls, 

well we can give that to communications as always a--but as you can see out here they 

have 5 computer screens in front of them. What does the technology do? Does it increase 

their workload, their responsibility, their-- and with responsibility comes liability? Does it 

increase that or does it decrease that? Or is it kind of a neutral that this is going to be 

something new but it's going to help you take some of that workload off but it's going to 

replace that so is it going to be a neutral or is it going to be something that's going to 

increase their workload? (COMMS-R-016)

Well, unfortunately, as a volunteer, we have WhenToWork. We have emergency 

reporting. We got their training program they log into. There's a state cert system. So, 

unfortunately the devil's in the details. As a volunteer, you could actually become 

inundated with apps and all these different log-ins because there is no one program that 

solves everything for volunteers. So that's actually a detriment to our program, are the 

apps and the availability of all these technologies because they don't interface with each 

other. Some of them only do iPhones. Some of them only do the Android stuff. So even 

that's a problem. (FF-R-019)

Questions surfaced such as whether or not technology increases or decreases workload, whether or not it 

comes with additional liability, or even whether or not new technology might replace them and their jobs. Other 

times, participants noted how technology actually made their work lives more difficult, as with the multitude of 

log-ins needed and how they do not always work on all platforms, creating additional difficulties especially for 

volunteers. These questions and concerns all resonate with the larger dataset, where many participants had 

similar concerns.

Overall, the five technology opportunities identified in Volume 1 for the PSCR R&D community hold true for 

rural first responders as well [2].

Interoperability – The ability of a system or a product to exchange and make use of information with 

other systems or products without special effort on the part of the users—data integration and sharing 

from radios to radios, systems to systems, devices to devices, and departments to departments.

Reliability and connectivity – 100 % connectivity for radio, cellular, and wireless networks in spite of 

geography and topography—urban canyons, subways, basements, or other dead zones.

Accountability and location – Development of technology that provides for accountability and location 

tracking of the crew, units, 911 callers, and building occupants.
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Maintenance, technical support and training – Minimization of the burden and costs of the associated 

maintenance, technical support and training of technology imposed on users and departments.

Organizational policies and administration – Facilitation and promotion of technology adoption by first 

responders through policies, procedures, and administration to minimize barriers and hindrances to use 

while supporting first responders’ primary tasks.

These opportunities are what first responders, including rural first responders, see as the most important for 

developers to address.

However, developers must recognize the unique nature of the contexts in which rural first responders work and 

the specific needs they have, and not develop one-size-fits-all solutions. For example, rural first responders 

questioned the need for additional technology in their contexts.

I find often, technology drives us in directions that we aren't necessarily ready to go yet 

as a small organization. (EMS-R-008)

Well, I mean, I can't keep up. One of the complaints I get is that we're trying to use 

technology to fix all of our problems. And there's some truth to that and I don't like it.

(FF-R-024)

In addition to questions of financial feasibility, there is also a recognition that new technology cannot solve all 

problems faced by rural first responders. While rural first responders often questioned the usefulness and 

feasibility of new technologies, they do provide some overarching thoughts about what they do need and want.

In listening to the voices of rural first responders, the following technology needs emerged as necessary to their 

work:

• Better coverage for radios, cell phones, computers, and other communication tools

• Better location capabilities to find people and “addresses”

• Tools for rural-based events to help with area-specific types of incidents (whether seasonal or 

topographic)

• Tools equipped for the rural expanse to help mitigate the size-distance issues

• Reasonably priced communication tools

• Access to basic equipment and gear before they can buy “newfangled” technology

• IT support and help

Moving forward, consideration of the context of use, in this case the rural environment, should drive technology 

improvement and development for mission critical voice, location-based services, and data analytics [13].

Acknowledgements 

NIST would like to thank the many first responders who graciously gave their time and input for this project. The

authors would also like to thank Kevin Mangold of the NIST Visualization and Usability Group.

References 

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[18]U.S. Census Bureau. Rural America. https://gisportal.data.census.gov/arcgis/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=7a41374f6b03456e9d138cb014711e0

1 (Retrieved September 2019).

[19]Yin, R.K. (2003) Case study research: Design and methods (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
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Appendix A: Detailed methodology 

The research design for the project began by developing research questions (as stated in Sec. 1) that would 

guide the work during the course of the project. This important formative stage of the research serves as a 

foundation and provides a focus for data collection and data analysis. Qualitative research is iterative in nature 

and focuses on the importance of participants’ voices and perspectives throughout the research process. The

research process consistently returns to the research questions to inform future elements of the process such as 

data collection and data analysis. Data collection and data analysis were conducted in tandem and occurred 

iteratively, each informing future iterations. The project is cross-sectional including input from rural participants 

from all public safety disciplines, from a variety of ranks and levels, and from a variety of geographical areas. It is 

also constructivist in that the focus is on how rural first responders construct and conceptualize their worlds—

based on their individual understandings as well as based on shared meanings and social constructions.

A case study approach was used, which Yin argues is appropriate when exploring “how” questions where 

contextual conditions are relevant to the phenomenon under study, and where the behavior of those involved in 

the study is only observed [19]. For this project, the phenomenon of study is experiences of rural first responder 

communication, which cannot be understood outside of the rural first responder context.

In the following sections, we present details related to sampling, data collection, and data analysis.

Sampling strategy

The sampling strategy for the larger project included ensuring representation of first responders from all four 

domains: 911/dispatch, emergency medical services, fire service and law enforcement [2]. Geographic diversity 

was also important since the public safety issues faced by first responders may be different based on geographic 

location. Across the U.S., first responders from urban, suburban, and rural areas were included, to ensure that 

communities of different sizes and different economic realities were represented. In addition, in order to be 

representative of the first responder population across the United States, attention was paid to first responders 

at different jurisdictional levels (local, county, and state) and different ranks and levels, recognizing that their 

work, and the technology needed to accomplish that work, might vary. This strategy allowed for insight into the 

variety of experiences faced by first responders across the U.S. and ensured coverage of both typical and unique 

experiences.

This report focuses specifically on the data from rural first responders. Of the 193 first responders interviewed 

for the larger project [2][7], 63 (32.64 %) operated in what we defined as rural areas of the U.S. The 63 rural 

responders collectively represented all four first responder disciplines.

Data collection instruments

A semi-structured interview protocol was developed for use in the larger project. The protocol questions grew 

out of the problem and purpose statements and the research questions, input from subject matter experts 

(SMEs), the literature, and background knowledge of the first responder community. An iterative approach to 

refining the data collection instruments was utilized in order to ensure that language, questions, and concepts 

were appropriate and would elicit valuable responses that would allow the research questions for the project to 

be answered and addressed. Pilot interviews with two or three first responders in each discipline were 

conducted as well and several subject matter experts reviewed the instruments to assess content validity and to 

ensure all relevant and related concepts were addressed by the instrument. Several content and subject matter 
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experts who provided input and feedback came from rural areas. This ongoing review and refinement of the 

protocol is consistent with the iterative nature of qualitative research. The protocol questions are listed in 

Appendix B.

The interview protocol included a short demographic form that also included two additional questions related to 

participants’ ease and comfort with technology (see Appendix C). The demographic questionnaire was short to 

allow maximum time for the interviews. Since usability focuses on users, their tasks, and the context of use, 

protocol questions fell into two main categories: context of work; and perceptions of and experiences with 

communication and technology (see Appendix B). Questions about context of work included descriptions of: 

their overall job, tasks, and daily routine; relationships with other people (their direct colleagues, other first 

responders, dispatch, the community, and the media, for example); and what work is like—both in and out of 

the station or specific work environment. The protocol and all relevant documents were approved by the NIST 

Human Subjects Protection Office (HSPO) and the Office of Management and Budget Paperwork Reduction Act.

Data collection process

As discussed earlier, the data for this rural analysis are part of a larger dataset of in-depth, one-on-one, semistructured interviews with first responders across the U.S. Most interviews took place in the workplace, a police 

station or fire station, for example, in either a group gathering area or in a private office or conference room.

Each participant was provided with a copy of the Information Sheet about the study, and was informed verbally 

that:

• their participation was voluntary,

• they could stop at any time without penalty,

• they could decline to answer any question(s),

• all data would be de-identified,

• the interview would take approximately 45 minutes, and

• the study had been approved by the HSPO.

Participants were asked for permission to audio record the session. Occasionally, participants were called away 

for incident responses, which resulted in shortened or truncated interviews.

Given time and resource constraints and the importance of performing in-depth interviews to hear first-hand 

from first responders, it is not possible to reach a large percentage of the rural first responder population. For 

the rural data, the sampling strategy resulted in an under-representation in EMS participants. In the public 

safety field, there is no such thing as perfect representation, because every place and station are unique in some 

way. Interviewing a wide variety of first responders, with a wide range of positions, responsibilities, years of 

experience, and other variables was intentionally pursued to address potential coverage and representation 

issues.

Data collection challenges

Collecting data from rural first responders responsible for day to day incident response and operations posed 

several challenges. A major challenge was simply gaining access to the first responders. Permission was often 

needed from multiple authority levels, or from specific public safety officials, in order to schedule interviews and 

start the data collection process for a given location. Those in positions of authority were protective of their first 

responders and their time, and often controlled access to them, and rightfully so. Their time is extremely 
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valuable, and the team fully recognized that fact, knowing that their assignments and life-saving duties obviously 

take priority over interviews.

Another difficulty experienced during rural data collection in particular revolved around gaining access to rural 

first responder departments and points of contact. Making an initial contact with rural first responders was 

hindered by the fact that many did not have department phones, emails, or websites, often utilizing personal 

cell phones and emails for communication. As noted in Volume 1, in many instances, gaining access to first 

responders was dependent on referrals from personal and/or professional contacts, or on the use of snowball 

sampling [2]. This access issue was magnified, as well as challenges with logistics, for the rural demographic.

Once contact was made, rural first responders were very interested in participating, noting how they often felt 

left out of research since they were so “small” and as a result felt that their voices did not matter.

In addition to being difficult to initiate contact, it was often difficult to physically access many of these rural 

areas, especially given some of the terrain and remoteness of the locations. From a time and resource 

perspective, data collection in these rural departments and agencies costs much more than data collection in 

metropolitan areas. These data collection challenges may be one reason why rural first responders represent an 

understudied research population, and another reason why it is such an important population to examine here.

Data analysis

The data consist of interview transcripts, demographics questionnaires, field notes, and analytic memos. The 

interviews provide an in-depth and yet overarching look at rural first responders and their work in their own 

words. All interview recordings were transcribed by an external transcription service; these interview transcripts 

were then used for the qualitative coding process. 

In contrast to coding in the computer science and software engineering domains, qualitative coding is a process 

of labeling sections or chunks of narrative data capturing the essence and/or salient features to group, compare, 

and/or manipulate similar chunks. In essence coding is a process for reducing and/or reconfiguring data in an 

organized and meaningful way. Coding is the beginning of the analysis process.

The coding process in the larger dataset began with an a priori code list. The a priori codes are a set of labels

based on the research questions, relevant literature, and an understanding of the communication and 

technology space in the first responder community. Interviews for this rural analysis had been coded previously 

in the work done for the broader project. Additional coding paid specific attention to characteristics and 

experiences that seemed unique to the rural environment. The question that focused this phase of the coding 

was: What makes this rural?

Two members of the rural analysis team began by reading all 48 of the rural transcripts to gain a holistic sense of 

the data. Each team member then coded two randomly chosen rural transcripts to identify codes specific to the 

rural dataset and to recognize where there was convergence and divergence among the researchers’ coding and 

to use these points of intersection/difference to explore the data more fully. The team then met to discuss and 

operationalize these codes. Operationalizing each code consisted of providing the definition of the code, when 

to use it, when not to use it, and examples for each code. Each researcher then coded a subset of the remaining 

46 transcripts.

Team meetings occurred regularly in order to ensure that the codes were being used consistently, and to 

identify additional codes as needed. As previously noted, the goal in coding the rural data focused on what 

made these participants, their experiences, and/or their environments unique. Ultimately, two broad ideas 
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emerged as important concepts for analysis: Rural Geography and Rural Community. These were further 

explored for the ways in which they provided insight into first responders’ experiences related to 

communication technology.

Validity and reliability

Qualitative methods require different approaches of providing validity than quantitative methods. Even similar 

terminology has different meanings. Table 3 below illustrates how qualitative and quantitative methodologies 

use the same terminology in different ways.

Table 3. Quantitative versus qualitative validity

Term Quantitative Definition Qualitative Definition

Significance 

The number that expresses the probability 

that the result of an experiment could 

have occurred by chance.

Identification of trends or ideas in the data 

that are not obvious, but which point 

toward a new, emerging, and/or 

interesting understanding of the data 

Reliability The overall consistency of a measure

The dependability of the process and 

product of the research, which can be 

provided through an inquiry audit or other 

means of demonstrating consistency

Validity The method of power analysis used to 

detect a relationship

The trustworthiness provided by 

transparency in study design and process, 

including the delineation of analytic 

processes that are systematic and rigorous

Sample size (n) The number of samples necessary to reach 

a certain statistical power 

The number of participants or cases 

needed to reach saturation in the data

Qualitative methods generally rely on trustworthiness as a measure of validity. Trustworthiness consists of four 

different components: credibility; transferability; dependability; and confirmability [2]. Credibility refers to a 

belief that the findings are congruent with reality (specifically with the reality of the participants). This is 

accomplished through a variety of measures, including the use of:

• Well-established research methods (such as interviews and observation field notes),

• Triangulation (across time, person, location, and organization),

• Practices to encourage accurate responses from participants (such as informing them they can voluntarily 

withdraw or decline to answer a question at any time, and data are collected without identifiers),

• Iterative questioning (to insure consistent data from participants),

• Frequent debriefing sessions among researchers (to explore gaps in the process and/or product and insure 

exploration of varied and alternative ideas),

• Experienced investigators who are knowledgeable about the content and the population,

• Member checking (the use of participants and subject-matter experts to review research interpretations),
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• Detailed description of the phenomena under study and the use of participants’ own words. In fields such 

as sociology and human-centered design, a thick description of a human behavior is one that explains not 

just the behavior, but its context as well, such that the behavior becomes meaningful to an outsider.

Transferability is about the extent to which findings from this study could be applied to other situations. In 

quantitative methods generalizability is built into the research design and occurs at the time the research is 

conducted. In qualitative methods, it is incumbent on the researchers to use rich, thick description of the 

research process, including a focus on the participants, to provide readers with a good understanding of 

participants and experiences delineated in the research. The detailed description of the methodological process 

promotes the transferability of research findings to the readers.

Dependability, or reliability in quantitative terms, refers to the likelihood that if the work were repeated in the 

same context with the same methods, and same participants, similar results would be obtained. In qualitative 

research, dependability is provided by ensuring transparency in the research process and providing detail about 

all research processes. This creates a model of the research that others can utilize as a “prototype” to conduct a 

similar study. In this report, specific detailed descriptions of the research design, data collection methods, tools, 

timelines, and analysis processes are provided.

Confirmability is about ensuring that the findings presented are based on the knowledge, beliefs, and 

experiences of the participants and not on what the researchers believe or prefer. Confirmability is about 

providing objectivity—in the data collection and in the data analysis. One key to this is recognizing researcher 

biases and pre-dispositions. The research team reflected about how the team’s backgrounds and disciplinary 

training might influence their thinking about the project. For example, the sociologist/qualitative methodologist 

on the research team grew up in a family of police officers and fire fighters, and several members of her family 

continue the family tradition today. Her experiences and background knowledge were monitored so as not to 

bias the results. The team documented self-reflections in analytic memos as a technique to monitor biases and 

pre-dispositions. Another important component is the provision of detailed methodological descriptions of the

decisions about the data collection and analysis in order to provide transparency in the process and in the 

product (the interpretations). This type of data audit trail provides a step-by-step guide to what was done, when 

it was done, how it was done, and why it was done. A ‘theoretical audit trail’ (the analytic process and how 

different tools were used to interpret the data) was also constructed. Together, the data and theoretical audit 

trails provide a strong foundation for confirmability of the research.
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Appendix B: Interview Questions 

Context and Beliefs of Work

1. What is your job title?

a. If you were describing your job to someone who knew nothing about it (like to a kid, or 

someone from another planet), how would you describe it?

b. Tell me about your daily routine. How does your day begin?

i. If there isn’t one, list the different kinds of things you do during the day.

ii. What’s typical communication like for you during your work day?

c. What is it like when you are at the station?

i. Describe your relationships with other folks you work with.

ii. Tell me about the community you serve.

d. What is it like when you are at work but outside of the station?

Communication and Technology

2. List the different kinds of technology (devices, equipment) you use to do your job.

a. How would you describe the technology/equipment you currently use?

b. Are there apps that you use to do your job?

c. Have there been times when technology has gotten in the way?

3. How (if at all) have things changed in terms of communication since you became a first responder?

a. Do these changes make communication better or worse for you?

4. In a typical day on your job, what kinds of information do you need?

a. Are there other kinds of information you need for situations that aren’t so typical—and if so, 

what is it?

5. If you think about the incidents you’ve responded to over the last few weeks or months, is there 

information that could have helped you understand the scene before you got there? Tell me about it.

a. What kind of information would be the most helpful, either for typical or for more 

complicated calls?

b. How would you want to get that information?

6. What, if anything, do you think causes communication problems in your work?

a. What, if anything, could help with these problems?

7. Let’s talk out of the box for a minute, describe your technology wish list: pie in the sky here, if technology 

could do whatever you wanted it to, what would you want?

a. Are there new or different apps you can think of that could be useful?

8. Is there anything else you’d like to share about your job that you think is important for us to know?

9. Do you have any questions for me/us?
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Appendix C: Demographic Questionnaire 

Your area(s):  ̈ Fire  ̈ EMS  ̈ Law Enforcement  ̈ Dispatch

 ̈ Other Public Safety: _______________

Total years of service: ___________

Location:  ̈ Urban  ̈ Suburban  ̈ Rural  ̈ Tribal  ̈ Other: ___________

City, State: ____________________

Gender:  ̈ Female  ̈ Male  ̈ Prefer not to answer

Age:  ̈ 18-25  ̈ 26-35  ̈ 36-45  ̈ 46-55  ̈ 56-65  ̈ Over 65

Experience with different kinds of technology:

(including desktop or laptop computers, tablets, smartphones, and the Internet).

 ̈ I have limited experience using technology and I don’t know much about how technology works.

 ̈ I have some knowledge about how technology works, but often need to ask for help to perform more 

advanced activities – such as to configure the privacy settings on my cell phone.

 ̈ I can do most things that I want to do with technology and only need help occasionally.

 ̈ I can do all things that I want to do with technology without help from others.

In general, when do you adopt new technologies?

 ̈ I try the latest technologies as soon as they come out.

 ̈ I follow technology trends.

 ̈ I let others work out the kinks first.

 ̈ I wait until my old technology dies.

 ̈ I only adopt new technologies when it’s required.