Recruiting Volunteer Firefighters a Challenge for Some Departments

PHOENIX, N.Y. — Saturday morning at a home in Phoenix, a hot water tank burst into flames, rendering it unlivable.

“I feel sorry for the family,” said Phoenix Fire Department Second Deputy Chief Edward Mason.

The Phoenix Fire Department is made of about 50 volunteers. Crews say if there were more members, Saturday’s fire would have been easier to battle and may not have spread as much as it did.

“Nobody wants to volunteer, so we have a limited manpower situation,” Mason said.

Danny Dunn was a volunteer firefighter in Oswego County for 50 years before he retired in 2014. In more recent years, he’s seen individuals struggle to do the work of multiple people.

“There’s certain jobs that need to be done,” Dunn said. “There’s rescue. There’s fire attack. There’s ventilation. And it all takes manpower.”

Dunn thinks the shortage could be due to lack of pay and time constraints. And the volunteer issue isn’t unique to Phoenix: In 2010, the number of volunteer firefighters across the state dropped from 110,000 to about 84,000.

The Firemen’s Association of the State of New York started a program called Recruit NY to boost those figures.

“Signage, banners, recruitment fliers and brochures,” said Gordon Kotars, a representative for the Fireman’s Association of the State of New York, “and just a lot of ideas for how to hold and open house and do recruitment.”

After five years, Recruit NY helped attract about 20,000 more volunteers. But even with the increase, departments in more rural areas like Phoenix still struggle as they have a smaller pool to draw from.

FASNY says things need to change.

“If you had to go career departments, in your communities, the cost would be staggering,” Kotars said. “And we need to maintain our volunteer levels or we are going to someday face that fact that we’re going to start paying, and I’m sure the taxpayers don’t want to see that happen.”

To prevent that from happening, Kotars says departments need to keep coming up with creative ideas to attract volunteers. To strengthen the Recruit NY program, they will put more attention toward retention efforts.