Fire Hall Doors Open for RecruitNY Campaign

STAFFORD — Andy Perkins always knew he wanted to be a firefighter.

“I grew up next to the Alabama Fire Department,” Perkins said. “I’d hear the sirens go off and see the trucks with their sirens blaring and who wouldn’t want to be riding on one of those.”

When he was old enough he became a member of the Alabama department, then joined Oakfield Volunteer Fire Department, where he served until moving to Stafford.

He joined Stafford’s department in September.

Saturday, he, along with other volunteers, was at the fire hall on Route 5 talking to people and hoping to recruit new members as part of the third annual statewide RecruitNY campaign.

“A lot of people see it as a job that takes too much time,” Perkins, 25, said. “They don’t want to go through all the training.”

Volunteer Steve Johnson joined the department in April 2011 when he was 18 years old. This year, he was named Firefighter of the Year.

Like many firefighters, Johnson comes from a family of volunteers and that, he said, has long been the case with most volunteer departments.

What they need now is new members who may not have been involved in the past.

“We have about 30 to 40 active members,” Johnson, 20, said. “Our numbers have been on the downturn, like most departments.”

Which is why RecruitNY began three years ago.

Saturday, fire companies throughout the state conducted open houses in an attempt to bolster numbers. The goal is to recruit 15,000 new members for the more than 1,700 volunteer departments in New York.

Both Perkins and Johnson admit being a firefighters is hard work but there is more to firefighting than answering calls and training.

“There’s a lot of administrative work,” Perkins said. “We need people to operate the website and we have a car committee. There’s a lot of other work involved.”

Anyone interested in joining their local fire department can either contact the department of visit ReadyGenesee.com.