Volunteer Firefighting and “Junior Firefighters” What Your Department Should Know (Part 2)

This article is the second part of a two-part series on youth programs in the volunteer fire service. Please refer to the November/December 2021 issue of The Volunteer Firefighter for Part 1 dealing with restricted member firefighters. This article addresses Explorer programs and “statutory youth programs” authorized by General Municipal Law §204-b.1

Explorer Programs

Explorer programs were developed as an offshoot of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) and were organized to provide training and experience to 14-to-20-year-olds in various career fields including aviation, law enforcement, health careers, and the fire service, among others. BSA-sponsored career Exploring came into existence in 1959, exclusively for teenage boys. In 1971, the Exploring program was expanded to include girls. Thereafter, the popularity of fire service and law enforcement Exploring grew rapidly and Explorer Posts with a focus on career-oriented training became a co-educational alternative to traditional scouting. Explorer programs are now under the auspices of Learning for Life, a school and workplace based training organization established in 1991 as a subsidiary of BSA and now operating as an affiliate of BSA America. For purposes of this article, we refer to “Exploring” as the national organization overseeing Explorer programs.

Is an Explorer Post a Part of the Fire Department?

No, Explorer posts may be sponsored by a fire department, but the post is not part of the department. Explorer “posts” are established by a sponsoring entity (fire company, firefighter union local, etc.) much along the lines of the format used to create Boy Scout troops. Sponsors pay an annual fee to Exploring based in part on the number of Explorers. In many respects, a fire company’s sponsorship of an Explorer post creates the same type of relationship as if the fire company sponsored a Boy Scout troop. However, in practicality, the connection between the fire department and the post is much more intertwined than simple sponsorship because the fire department sponsor generally provides the training facilities, adult advisors, all of the personal protective gear, and other equipment utilized by the post.

What Are the Advantages of Establishing a Fire Service Explorer Post?

Exploring has established a Fire and Emergency Services (EMS) career program that is time-tested and provides a vast number of resources. Explorer programs are all-inclusive, off-the- shelf programs in that all aspects of running an Explorer post have been established by Exploring and are provided in the materials provided to the post sponsor when the post application is accepted by Exploring. Membership in Explorer posts is open to those 14 years of age (and older) and is targeted to the important high school-age demographic.

Exploring is designed to attract young adults who are interested in the fire service but have no other age-appropriate opportunity to whet their appetites to learn about or experience the fire service.

How Are Fire Service Explorer Posts Organized and Operated?

Each post must have a leadership committee comprised of at least four adult advisors to oversee the post. Each adult leader must undergo a criminal background check, participate in Youth Protection Training, and leadership position-specific training provided by Exploring. Two leaders must be present when providing instruction and no one-on-one participation in activities between leaders and Explorers is permitted. Each Explorer applicant must complete a standardized application and provide parental consent if the applicant is under eighteen years old.

A limited general liability insurance policy is provided for leaders, and limited excess liability insurance is provided for volunteers. While no accident or health coverage is provided to the Explorer, however, some local councils may provide (modest) accident and sickness policies to the Explorers. VFBL coverage does not apply to Explorers. Post leaders are cautioned that VFBL may not apply to the post leaders providing training unless the AHJ has taken action to designate leadership trainers as being engaged in official training activities of the AHJ.

Each fire service post must adhere to Fire and Emergency Services Explorer Program Guidelines promulgated by Exploring. These guidelines contain safety and hazard mitigation rules that set forth the types of activities fire service explorers may participate in, and expressly prohibit participation in other types of activities.

First and foremost, the Program Guidelines state that Explorers may not be substituted for trained personnel. This is the most obvious and the most important distinction between Explorers and restricted member firefighters. Explorers are individuals who belong to an organization that is sponsored by (or otherwise associated with) the fire department, while restricted member firefighters are members of the department training to be full active-firefighter members.

What Are the Restrictions on Fire Service Explorer Activities?

Explorers can only participate when the post is activated. This means that fire service Explorers may not participate in any activity unless the post (and post leadership) is involved. The Program Guidelines include prohibitions for Explorers from entering or ventilating a burning building, climbing ground ladders in excess of 35 feet, climbing aerial ladders, or performing any activity where the Explorer has not been provided the appropriate personal protective equipment. However, Explorers are permitted to use aerial ladders and enter controlled burn buildings when using “an official training facility”. In addition to these rules, the AHJ of the sponsoring entity should have its own facility and program-specific rules as to what further restrictions it wants to impose on Explorers’ activities.

Can a Department Have an Explorer Post and a Restricted Member Firefighter Program?

Yes, but the programs are entirely independent of one another. Each program has discrete rules governing participation. Explorer posts are often the feeder pipeline to restricted member programs. Once an Explorer reaches the age of eligibility for a restricted member program (age 16 or 17), it is generally more advantageous for the individual to leave Explorers and become a restricted member firefighter.

Statutory Youth Programs Pursuant to General Municipal Law Section 204-b

The only reference to the phrase “youth programs” in fire service law is found under General Municipal Law Section 204-b. Because the type of youth program described is created by statute (GML § 204-b), these programs are commonly referred to as “statutory youth programs”. Importantly, these programs are neither restricted member programs nor Explorer programs. Statutory youth programs – as established by the Legislature in 1978 – are more closely related to fire prevention education programs delivered in schools than they are to fire service training.

What Is the Purpose of a Statutory Youth Program?

According to the express language of the statute, and subject to the approval of the AHJ, volunteer fire companies may establish statutory youth programs to “provide participants with the opportunity to become familiar” with the:

1. programs and operations of fire departments;

2. to provide programs in community fire safety, fire prevention, and public fire prevention education; and

3. to curtail false alarms by developing community wide respect for the fire service. (GML §204-b(1)

What Are the Limitations of a Statutory Youth Program?

Notably absent in the language of the statute is any reference to “training” youths in the science and art of firefighting. The statute expressly states that “No activities may include emergency duties in connection with fire department or fire company operations or any other hazardous activity.” The term “any other hazardous activity” is not defined in the statute and is subject to imprecise and conflicting interpretations from chiefs, commissioners, parents, youths, juries, and personal injury attorneys.

Paragraph 5 further provides that all activities must be approved in advance by the chief or the chief ’s designee. At paragraph 6, the statute unequivocally states that participants in youth programs are not eligible to receive VFBL benefits. However, Paragraph 7 allows fire companies and departments to buy insurance for participants who are injured (or die) from “approved activities”.

Notably, the statute sets forth the caveat that fire departments and fire companies must establish rules and regulations governing youth programs and the supervision thereof.

Are There Problems with Statutory Youth Programs?

Statutory youth programs can be beneficial in creating a robust fire education program not unlike the programs many departments deliver in schools during Fire Prevention Week. However, the statute is focused on developing educational programs, not training programs. It is silent as to training and dangerously ambiguous as to what types of activities are prohibited and what are allowed. Statutory youth programs are constrained to follow and – are thereby limited by – the language of the statute. The lack of authority in the statute to allow exposure to “any other hazardous activity” means that the instruction provided cannot reach the same level of training that may be afforded in an Explorer program, and is monumentally less than the level that can be provided in a restricted member firefighter program. Unlike Exploring programs that have detailed guidance and resources designating permissible activities and setting criteria for safety and supervision, the statute provides no such guidance, save for the requirement that the chief must approve activities.

Are There Benefits to Statutory Youth Programs?

We ascribe to the notion that any fire education training for youths and adults is a good thing. A statutory youth program may be a good starter program to gauge the interest if consideration is being given by AHJ or Department leadership to forming an Explorer post or starting a restricted member program. On the positive side, although the participants in statutory youth program are not entitled to VFBL, volunteer firefighter instructors who are injured while performing work or leading a statutory youth programs are entitled to VFBL benefits for their injuries.2 While a statutory youth program might seem to be the cleanest option (as it is created by statute), these are the types of programs that create the most confusion and pose the greatest risk of morphing into something neither intended nor authorized by the statute.

 

As of this writing, there is legislation proposed to amend GML §204-b to allow “participants to respond to an emergency or hazardous activity” but remain in a designated safe area established by the chief.3 The proposed legislation also seeks to change the Penal Law to remove program leaders from potential criminal exposure for “endangering the welfare of a child” for engaging in activities under a GML §204-b program. The need for legislation amending GML §204-b underscores some of the limitations the statute imposes and validates some of the concerns we’ve addressed herein. The sponsor’s Memorandum in Support of the proposed change in the law states that the purpose of the change is to allow statutory youth program participants to observe actual fire calls and gain observational experience. Under the proposed change, statutory youth program participants will still be precluded from entitlement to VFBL benefits.

A Word About the NVFC National Junior Firefighter Program

The NVFC provides resources and information for volunteer departments concerning “junior firefighter programs”. The information and resources are helpful and informative. However, the NVFC junior firefighter program does not equate to a restricted member firefighter program, as the NVFC program “does not advocate junior firefighters participating in operational activities”.4

The NVFC program is most similar to the Exploring fire service program, and the NVFC actually encourages Explorers to participate in the NVFC program as well.5 Lastly, while the NVFC program advocates more “hands-on” experience than does GML § 204-b, the statutory youth programs in this state organized under that statute are constrained by the limitations imposed by law.

Conclusion

Youth programs in the volunteer fire service are an investment in the future. In this State, it is easy to confuse and conflate the types of programs established with the programs that are actually being run. Statutory Youth Programs under GML §204-b are the lowest rung in terms of engaging youth in firematic activities and the statute, as currently written, clearly limits the degree of hands-on participation. Conversely, fire service Exploring provides a time-tested, stock program that has plenty of structure and guidance, but comes at the expense of annual membership fees. Restricted member firefighter programs are intended to serve as the apprentice program for the volunteer fire service, and should be the most engaging programs for enticing 16- and 17-year-olds to commit themselves to the volunteer fire service. Regardless of the youth program or programs a fire department implements, the safety and health of the “children” participating in the program is the department’s (and every firefighter’s) highest obligation.

Timothy C. Hannigan, Esq. serves as General Counsel to FASNY, and is a volunteer firefighter with the Elsmere Fire Company, Inc. in Delmar, New York. He can be reached at www.hannigan.law. Please note that the information contained herein does not establish an attorney-client relationship between the author and the reader. Matters addressed are for information purposes only and the reader should seek advice from competent local counsel in regard to acting on any matters addressed herein. This article may not be reprinted or republished in whole or in part without the express written permission of the author and FASNY.

1 “Explorer Clubs” – which are fundamentally different that traditional Explorer programs and are open to children in sixth through eighth grade – are not discussed in this article.
2VFBL §5(n)
3S7359 Brooks; A8100 McMahon (2021)
4NVFC Junior Firefighter Handbook p.6
5NVFC Junior Firefighter Handbook p.6