Push to recruit volunteer firefighters in New York

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) – Currently, there are around 100,000 volunteer firefighters working in firehouses across the state.

This weekend, roughly 500 stations, including those in Saratoga County, will be holding open houses in hopes of adding to that number as part of recruit New York.

FASNY says volunteer firefighters help reduce property taxes and save the state close to three billion annually.

The price it would cost for all full-time fire houses.

“I grew up always wanting to help people, it’s been my calling since I was a kid,” Jeremy Tremblay said.

During the week, when Tremblay is not serving people as a Saratoga County Sheriff’s Deputy, he’s swapping uniforms for the West Crescent Fire Department as a volunteer firefighter.

“If we don’t members here than the calls go unanswered and their response times get delayed. The more people that want to volunteer the better the community is going to be served overall.”

So Tremblay is standing alongside other volunteers to help spread the word.

“It’s a lot of fun when you go to a call and I’m driving and he’s in the truck. I worry like any other parent would,” Ed Tremblay, Safety Officer of the EMT West Crescent Fire Department, said.

While Jeremy’s father Ed and three other family members have ties to this fire station, the father-son duo says it doesn’t have to be in your blood and there’s something special about being a firefighter.

“The company as a whole isn’t just a fire company, it’s a family as well as the fire services as a whole is a family,” Ed Tremblay said.

The Tremblay’s want you to join and you don’t even have to enter a single burning building.

“Whether it’s medical, paperwork or whatever somebody wants to do they can do it.”

All you have to do is stop in and ask how you can help. Benefits include a second family and instant gratification.

“Leaving the firehouse knowing you did you’re best and a good job and potentially saved a life or saved someone’s property is really overall the best feeling,” Jeremy Tremblay said.