Hermon event aims to recruit new members for fire department

HERMON — The Hermon Volunteer Fire and Rescue Department, 1651 County Route 21, joined the ranks of many others across the state Sunday, opening its doors and fire truck bays to local residents in an effort to recruit membership. The weekend event was part of a greater RecruitNY initiative organized by the Firemen’s Association of the State of New York inviting locals to learn more about what it means to be a firefighter.

The Hermon Department’s 32-member station hosted opportunities to gear race a firefighter, participate in an air pack demonstration, and watch search and rescue drills done by the department’s Junior Program.

“We open the station up to the village and town for people to come in and see what we do,” said Richard J. Finnerty, secretary of the department’s board of directors. “We’re not expecting 20 people to join; that would be unrealistic. But even if we get one or two people in who want to join and make that big commitment, that’s what we’re looking for.”

Mr. Finnerty has been in the fire service since 1995 and has spent the last 10 years as an interior firefighter at the station.

“We have a fire and rescue service here so we answer everything,” he said explaining firefighters are the first responders to not just house fires but accidents and other emergencies as well. “It can be challenging just finding people who are willing to wear a pager on their side and go out and make the sacrifice of answering the call and losing personal time. Any day of the week, any time, 24/7, our pager can go off and if you’re available, you go.

Christopher R. Stransky has been department chief for eight years and a member since 1999. He said it’s difficult to find new members because of the time commitment. New members must take a first year Fire Fighter 1 training course totaling 120 hours. After that, interior firefighters — those who go inside burning buildings — must complete a minimum of 10 hours of Occupational Safety and Health Administration training per year. Exterior firefighters, who operate the truck and tools, and fire police, who ensure traffic safety, must complete eight hours annually.

“But we train all the time, so a lot of the guys may have 50 to 100 hours,” Mr. Stransky said.

He said the training commitment does not include time spent responding to emergencies — he said 93 such calls were completed in 2014 — or extra time donated to community functions.

“The hard part is that there’s not a lot of work around here so everyone (from the department) has to go outside the township for work during the day,” he said, explaining that only a few members are left to respond during that time. “I want to say about 95 percent of the calls are joint department, whether they come to here or we go to there.”

He said Dekalb, Russell, Richville and Edwards have small departments, like Hermon’s, and they all train together often because of their frequent interactions.

The village of Hermon has a population of 415, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. As a result of its small recruitment pool, the fire department has gotten creative in its efforts, establishing its own Junior Program three years ago. The project invites youths ages 14 to 18 to visit and observe.

“Knock on wood, I couldn’t be any happier,” said the chief. “It’s worked out really well. We’ve got two kids that are going to jump right into the acting fire department. The downside is I want to see them succeed in life, too, so I’m encouraging them to leave and go to college with the hope that in four or five years they return to the north country.”

Mr. Stransky said five active members from the station oversee the program, which began with four junior members in 2012 and has grown to nine.

“Because our kids are down here so much, the idea was to try and get them worked into the program somehow,” said Mr. Stransky. “Now they come to all of our training, but there are rules and regulations about some things that they can’t do.”

The “kids program” has its own board meetings and monthly training sessions and even meets annually to elect its captain, secretary and lieutenant. Juniors can even respond to some calls, but there are restrictions on the types of calls and the rules ensure the juniors are not in the first vehicle deployed.

“We’re really proud of everybody in the department, but to have 14- and 18-year-olds willing to come in and dedicate the time — I mean, these kids are really good and I’m really proud of them,” Mr. Finnerty said.

His son, Richard R. Finnerty, and daughter, Heather A. Finnerty, are both in the program. Miss Finnerty, a junior at Edwards Knox Central School, has been elected captain every year since the program began three years ago.

“I really enjoy the kids that show up,” she said. “A lot of them who come into the program are very dedicated and responsible kids, but we tend to be goofballs, too.”

“It’s a lot of fun. We all know each other pretty well and we’re very close. The fire department we kind of consider as our second family because everybody trusts everybody, we’re all very good friends, and it’s just someone you know you can rely on,” Miss Finnerty said.

She said it might surprise many people to know that most firefighters carry an average of 75 pounds of gear and that many have full-time jobs in addition to being volunteers.

As junior program captain, she said her role includes making sure members are all safe and know what they’re doing. In addition, she helps run meetings and training and introduce new tools to new junior members, and relays information from the Hermon Fire Department’s active members. Growing up in the station, alongside her father, showed her the realities of fire membership, she said.

“A lot of people, when they’re young, may think they want to be a fire fighter when they grow up because they think it’s really cool,” the junior captain said. “But when they get older it’s stressful to jump into a fire department and not really know what’s going on.”