A Special Message from FASNY President David Jacobowitz Regarding the FEMA SAFER Grant

Sometimes it seems like the old saying “Nothing ventured, nothing gained” was first uttered by a firefighter. Several years ago, FASNY and other fire service organizations began to notice decreased volunteer recruitment and retention numbers. In response, we made a strong commitment to reverse this trend before it became a significant problem. Last year, as part of our statewide strategy, FASNY decided to pursue a Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. As President of FASNY, I am pleased to report to you that we have accepted a SAFER award of $4.2 million to address the recruitment and retention challenges we face.

This award was the largest SAFER grant made for recruitment and retention of volunteer firefighters in 2010 and will enable us to undertake the biggest statewide effort in the country. As required by law, FASNY must follow the federally approved Scope of Work contained in the award package beginning in August 2011 and lasting through August 2015. It is also important to note that a high priority will be to initiate a tuition reimbursement program for 2,200 student-volunteer firefighters attending a New York State community college. The Tuition Reimbursement Program Policy and Procedures, with accompanying forms, are already being worked on with a rollout targeted for this August.

The dimensions of the New York State volunteer fire service addressed in this grant encompasses 1,740 volunteer fire agencies served by 88,841 firefighters, covers an area of 47,214 sq. miles and provides service to 9.8 million people. As an organization, we have come to know that several factors affect our ability to recruit and retain qualified members and those issues vary by locale. These factors include double-income families, aging and bedroom communities, a failing economy, and plummeting population statistics. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, NYS has lost more than 5% of its total population from 1970-2000. Similarly, we had approximately 110,000 volunteer firefighters in 1990 and recent surveys show that our current population falls somewhere between 88,000 and 90,000 (depending on the local definition of a truly “active” firefighter). These patterns of decline are further accelerated as large corporations continue to close or relocate and our youth flee from our state in search of suitable employment and lower taxation.

All of these elements contribute to the inability of many fire agencies to adequately staff first responding apparatus to meet NFPA 1720 standards. According to reports, many of our volunteer fire agencies, both suburban and rural, struggle each day to comply with the national standard more than 50% of the time. This is further compounded by their inability to muster a crew for other critical operational and support roles such as FAST/RIT, fire police, rehab, EMS and various special units.

A statewide recruitment and retention program is not only cost effective but it creates a unified front to the public, government and the business community. From an operations standpoint, it only makes sense to pursue a statewide impact rather than having multiple individual grants that could create the environment for duplication, redundancy and inconsistent messaging. The task is large but we are ready, able and committed to succeed.