‘Recruit N.Y.’ Stresses the Need, Importance of Vol. Firefighters

ELMIRA, N.Y. (18 NEWS) – On April 29-30, the Firemen’s Association of New York, or FASNY, is holding ‘Recruit N.Y.’ It’s an event where many volunteer fire departments host open houses to encourage potential recruits to look into joining. However, some local firefighters and lawmakers say the current need for volunteers is high, but more must be done to make that happen.

Since the 1990’s, New York State has lost around 50,000 volunteer firefighters, and the Southern Tier hasn’t been immune to the decline.

“Back in the 90’s we had like 60 volunteers, today we got 35,” Town and Country FD Chief Don Fischer said. Like many other volunteer chiefs, Fischer says there’s just not enough incentives to get younger people to join. He says busier schedules and expanding requirements discourage younger people from joining up.

“There’s not a lot of benefits in New York State to volunteer, especially for the EMS or Fire service,” Fischer said. “You have to be really dedicated and really want to volunteer.”

Aside from taking a few days each April to shed light on the importance of volunteer firefighters and other volunteer first responders, lawmakers in Albany are trying to get a bill passed which would provide more incentives to volunteers.

“It’s such an important commodity that we have, we’re looking at ways to try and foster it as much as we can,” Sen. Tom O’Mara (R,C – Big Flats) said. That proposed bill, which also has the support of Assemblyman Phil Palmesano (R,C,I- Corning) and Assemblyman Chris Friend (R,C,I- Big Flats), would provide incentives like bigger tax breaks, larger college loan forgiveness programs, and more.

“If (lawmakers) can come up with some of these things, it could help a lot of rurals and a lot of cities and villages that have fire departments to help recruit,” Fischer said.

Having more volunteer first responders goes beyond being a nice commodity in a time of need. It also plays an important role in your property taxes.

If volunteer numbers continue declining, it could mean a climbing property tax bill for millions of New Yorkers.

“It’s just a such a costly burden. We rely upon these volunteers in our more rural and suburban communities, it would be a huge tax burden to take that on,” Sen. O’Mara said. “Going to a paid service here in the Southern Tier is somewhere in the range of a 35-45 percent property tax increase.”

For more information on FASNY’s ‘Recruit N.Y.’ open houses and locations, click here.

For more on becoming a volunteer firefighter, click here.