Volunteer firefighter recruitment gets push

Volunteer firefighter recruitment gets push

FINGER LAKES--In an effort to address the issue of recruiting and retaining volunteer firefighters, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has signed legislation to create the New York State Recruitment and Retention Task Force. The task force, which has yet to be assembled, will study the issues surrounding recruiting and retaining volunteer firefighters and then develop recommendations to fix the problem.
"I think it is a great idea and I am glad the state is looking at the issue," said Derek Christensen of the Penn Yan Volunteer Fire Department. "I would say recruitment and retention is a hard thing in New York State."
John D'Alessandro, secretary for the Fireman's Association of the State of New York, agreed and said that finding and keeping volunteer firefighters is an issue across the state.
"This is something that we have been pushing for several years now," said D'Alessandro, who also is a volunteer firefighter in Saratoga.
Calling the issue complex, D'Alessandro said there are a myriad of reasons why volunteer firefighter numbers have been dropping in New York for decades.
"We commissioned a study a few years back and the three main issues we found were time, people not thinking they were cut out for it, and people unsure of how to do it," said D'Alessandro. "It's a complex problem and there will be no silver bullet to fix it."
Sitting on the newfound commission will be appointees coming from the governor, legislature, firefighters, educators and more.
"We wanted it to bring in diverse views, different sets of eyes looking at this problem," D'Alessandro stated. "For the past several decades there has been a significantly growing decline in people becoming volunteer firefighters."
While many local departments answer hundreds of calls per year often with a roster of veteran firefighters with decades of experience, Christensen said the lack of new volunteers could become a problem in the future.
"It's not an issue now but it could be in 10 years," Christensen said. "I joined when I was 18 or 19 with a few other people the same age. Now we are lucky if we get one person that age."
To help combat this issue, Christensen said the department received a grant last year to help not only recruit new volunteers but to retain volunteers the department already has.
D'Alessandro said it is not unusual for one town to have a full roster for its volunteer department and the next town over struggle mightily.
"It is not an issue that is reserved to rural, suburban or urban areas," D'Alessandro added.
Christensen agreed, saying there is no rhyme or reason as to why in some months they have as many as four volunteers and in some years have none.
"Personally I think finding a way to incentivize volunteering a little bit more would go a long way," Christensen added. "Maybe an additional tax break or something."
In 2019 the New York state volunteer firefighters and ambulance workers credit was $200, although some volunteers get a real property tax exemption in place of the credit.