Volunteer firefighter staffing in New York has reached its lowest rate in 40 years, resulting in nearly half a dozen firehouse closures across the state in the past year.

Representatives from the Association of Fire Districts of the State of New York held an emergency press conference March 4 to declare the historic collapse in volunteer staffing as a state-wide public safety crisis.

Association of Fire Districts First Vice President David Denniston said 93% of the fire departments in the state rely on volunteer firefighters.

“Unfortunately, we’ve seen a decrease in the number of volunteer firefighters from a high of over 120,000 in the early 2000s to nearly 80,000 today,” he said. “This is a one-third decrease in that staffing. The simple truth is we can no longer be confident that a firetruck or ambulance will arrive as quickly as the public expects or deserves when someone dials 911 in several of our communities.”

Denniston called on state legislatures to update the law to allow departments to reimburse or incentivize volunteers.

“What we are advocating for is additional tools to sustain our volunteers in the departments … We believe that New York state must update its laws to allow for nominal compensation for volunteer firefighters. … Currently, we’re unable to incentivize or reimburse in any way the volunteers for the time, training and personal expense required to serve,” Denniston said.

Additionally, he advocated for state-level incentives, such as tax credits, child care credits and property tax relief.

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Impact on Clinton County

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Clinton County Director of Emergency Services Eric Day said the state-wide trend is impacting the region, but there are no departments in the county facing immediate risks.

“I would say there are some departments that are doing OK and others that are not, but definitely, in our county, there are staffing issues with volunteer fire departments,” he said.

Day said 80,000 firefighters may sound like a lot, but isn’t nearly enough when you take into account the size of the state.

“I don’t think we have any at risk of closure in the immediate future, you know, but there’s certainly, there certainly could be a change, you know, at any time,” Day said, emphasizing it could become an issue for departments whose numbers are already low.

Cadyville Assistant Fire Chief and NYSAFC board member Chuck Kostyk said the volunteer firefighter staffing shortage is a crisis statewide, but not in the North Country.

“Definitely a statewide crisis, North Country is an absolute concern. Let’s put it that way,” he said. “I don’t know if I like the word ‘crisis,’ but definitely it’s very concerning the trend that we have right now with the volunteer fire service.”

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Recruiting and retention struggles

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One of the bigger concerns in the world of firefighting, according to Day, is recruitment and retention.

“I think it’s two problems. It’s a double edged sword. We do seem to recruit some new members, but over the handful of years, it seems that the folks that you do recruit, don’t stay as long,” he said.

In order to boost retention in departments across the state, fire officials called for a change in legislation to allow for authority-having jurisdictions to provide nominal compensation, or an incentive.

“Nominal compensation, as it’s proposed, isn’t going to be somebody’s salary, but it’s going to offset some of the expense that a volunteer firefighter incurs to go to somebody else’s emergencies,” Day said.

Firefighters not only have to drive to and from emergency calls but also to frequent trainings throughout the month. New volunteers have to travel even more for training.

“Those expenses pile up,” Day said, noting compensation can be as simple as a $50 to $100 gas card.

Kostyk said he believes the state needs to allow for some sort of nominal compensation in the form of paid-on-call, paid-by-call or reimbursements.

“As it stands right at the moment, because of the Volunteer Firefighter Benefit Law, VFBL, which is basically compensation almost like a workers comp for the firefighter, rules with that, and also rules with a length to service award program, did not allow for any sort of compensation for volunteer firefighters,” Kostyk said.

He said training is probably the most challenging aspect of retaining firefighters.

“We really have to work hard to get everybody to understand what the training requirements are,” he said. “That’s probably the toughest aspect of retaining people is the amount of training that people have to have to begin with and then have to have in order to maintain.”

A new firefighter may require upward of 150 hours of training between basic exterior firefighting and interior fire operations.

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Junior programs available to train early

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One way departments try to get ahead of this is by offering junior firefighter programs to high schoolers to give them some experience and build interest in training.

“They all have the same goal in mind, to bring younger people into a department,” Day said. “And hopefully to build firefighters that stay on for a while.”

Kostyk said the Cadyville Fire Department does offer a junior program but currently has no members.

“We do have several firefighters that have graduated into the firefighting ranks within the last 12 to 24 months,” he said. “Our fire chief was, you know, at one time, a junior firefighter, so he came up through the ranks.”

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A calling to help

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Day said legacy members also play a role in staffing departments.

“The volunteer fire services biggest recruitment tool is, I guess, legacy members,” Day said.

He joined the fire service because of his father, and Day’s son has also joined the department.

“It’s a family affair, so to speak, but certainly not the only means of recruiting that we have.”

Kostyk said he joined the fire service because of his grandfather. He now serves with his brother.

Now, he said, more and more new volunteers just want to “give back,” to their community.

“Most of the new recruits that we get did not have anybody that was in the fire service. They just felt that sense that they want to give back to the community,” Kostyk said.

“If you want to give back to the community, I really can’t think of a much better way than the volunteer fire service.”

Anyone interested in volunteer firefighting is encouraged to visit their local fire station on a training or meeting night, which in Clinton County is Monday nights.