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CAPITAL REGION, N.Y. (NEWS10) -To combat a significant decline in the number of people becoming volunteer firefighters, the Firefighters Association of the State of New York (FASNY) schedules an annual recruitment weekend for fire departments to host an open house. FASNY claims thousands of members have been added to local departments thanks to the initiative. NEWS10’s Anthony Krolikowski spoke with five fire chiefs in various counties who say the need for firefighters is higher than ever.
The fire chiefs of the Poestenkill, Petersburgh, and Fort Ann fire departments say no one came to their open house. “It’s frustrating. We had a good turnout with our members here to try to show some new members what we’re all about. What we offer to the public, what we offer to the community,” said Dan McIntyre with the Poestenkill Fire Department.
“Most fire departments in a small community were the focal point for all community activities. That’s not the way it is right now.” The fire departments say decades ago, they averaged around 60 members. Now, they say they are lucky to have anywhere between 20 and 40 volunteers.
Jon Lashinsky with the Fort Ann Volunteer Fire Company describes both time and money have played large factors in the decline of enrollment and retention. “Volunteer their time as well as go to work and support a household and have children and have a family. On top of it, say okay, now I’m going to meet these training requirements of hundreds of hours a year.”
Meanwhile, the open houses in Hillcrest and Ravena received a couple new applications each after a dozen visitors. “Three for active membership and one for support membership. This was a huge win for us this year. With the support of FASNY, we got out in front of it. We did a lot of campaigns, ad campaigns, on our Facebook page,” explained Robert Cournoyer with the Hillcrest Volunteer Fire Department.
Both advertisements and word of mouth are what these chiefs say they are relying on to recruit the next generation of volunteer firefighters. State-paid training stipends and other perks are some more ways they hope to bolster their roster.
“Not so much healthcare or anything like that, but we’ve provided fitness equipment for our members. We’re out there trying to find discounts for them. Whatever sort of benefit we can provide for them based on our budget, we try and make sure we do,” stated Travis Whitbeck with the Village of Ravena Fire Department.
Fire departments are always recruiting and open to questions. The RecruitNY initiative runs annually and Castleton Fire Department rescheduled their open house to Saturday, April 21.
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