As the sirens wail and fire trucks roll down neighborhood streets, the reassuring presence of first responders masks a growing emergency within New York\u2019s firefighting system: Volunteer fire departments, the backbone of fire protection across most of the state, are facing a crisis in recruitment and retention.<\/p>\n
Nearly 90% of New York\u2019s fire departments are volunteer-run, and they save taxpayers an estimated $3.8 billion annually in salary and benefits, according to a 2023 study from the Firefighters Association of the State of New York. But the number of individuals willing to serve has been steadily declining for decades.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the early 2000s, we had about 120,000 volunteers,\u201d said John D\u2019Lessandro, a firefighter in Saratoga County and FASNY\u2019s association secretary. \u201cNow we\u2019re down to somewhere between 75,000 and 80,000. And at the same time, the number and complexity of calls have gone up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Volunteer firefighters are now being called to respond to a growing variety of emergencies, from structure fires and car crashes to hazardous material incidents, technical rescues and natural disasters. The increasing demands are stretching already thin departments another notch.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe state even uses the volunteer fire service as a sort of rapid deployment force,\u201d D\u2019Lessandro said. \u201cWhen there\u2019s a snowstorm in Buffalo, departments from the Hudson Valley and the Capital Region go out to help. It\u2019s a statewide support network, but the strain is real.\u201d<\/p>\n
Currently, there are 71 fire departments in Nassau County, and 109 fire departments in Suffolk County. But only two of those departments are paid, the City of Glen Cove Fire Department and the City of Long Beach Fire Department. The rest rely on local residents dropping what they\u2019re doing, sometimes in the middle of work, school, or dinner, to respond.<\/p>\n
Robert Leonard, media relations leader of FASNY and a firefighter with the Syosset Fire Department on Long Island, said most people don\u2019t know their fire companies are manned by volunteers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople assume someone is sitting at the firehouse waiting for the bell to ring,\u201d Leonard said. \u201cBut they don\u2019t realize it\u2019s their neighbors, the same people they see at the grocery store or PTA meetings, who are running out at 2 a.m. to help.\u201d<\/p>\n
To address the shrinking volunteer pool, FASNY launched its \u201cIs There a Fire in You?\u201d campaign in 2010, after receiving a federal Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response grant. The campaign, built around a mix of social media, digital outreach, and printed materials, aimed to counter the top three concerns people expressed about joining: lack of time, fear of danger and not knowing how to get started.<\/p>\n
The campaign helped raise awareness, but the core obstacles remain. One of the biggest hurdles is the time required to become certified. Volunteers must complete \u201cFirefighter I,\u201d a comprehensive training course that mirrors the curriculum used by professional departments. It typically involves over 130 hours of instruction, two nights a week plus weekends.\u00a0<\/p>\n
To encourage more people to get involved, Gov. Kathy Hochul introduced a stipend program in Nassau County that pays volunteers for completing key training courses, such as $700 for Firefighter I and $185 for CPR and First Aid certification.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the same training that FDNY recruits go through,\u201d D\u2019Lessandro said. \u201cBut unlike career firefighters, our members are juggling full-time jobs and families.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Leonard, \u201cIt\u2019s a full-time part-time job. It\u2019s not full-time hours, but you\u2019ve got to give us as much time as you can because people\u2019s emergencies happen 24 hours a day, seven days a week.\u201d<\/p>\n
Firefighters are offered a range of benefits from tax exemptions to life insurance policies.<\/p>\n
New York offers a $200 state income tax credit for active volunteer firefighters, a benefit that hasn\u2019t increased since it was introduced more than 20 years ago. Two years ago, Holchul also introduced a property tax exemption of up to 10 percent to volunteer firefighters and volunteer ambulance workers, but local governing bodies have to adopt the local law. D\u2019Lessandro argues it does little to move the needle.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re asking people to essentially take on a second job, with life-or-death consequences, and offering a $200 tax break,\u201d D\u2019Lessandro said. \u201cThat\u2019s not going to persuade most people.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2022, state lawmakers passed legislation allowing local taxing jurisdictions to offer volunteer firefighters a 10% property tax exemption. While well-intentioned, the policy has limited impact on younger recruits, many of whom don\u2019t yet own homes.<\/p>\n
New York also offers tuition reimbursement through the Higher Education Learning Program, which provides up to $1,500 per semester for accredited college coursework in exchange for active fire service. But access to that program depends heavily on local implementation and awareness.<\/p>\n
In addition, the Length-of-Service Award Program rewards dedicated volunteers with pension-style benefits, potentially offering up to $800 per month in Nassau, while Suffolk provides similar accrual-based retirement awards. Firehouses typically offer annual physicals, access to mental health and peer support services, and group life insurance or line-of-duty death coverage to protect families.<\/p>\n
The shortage creates a dangerous feedback loop: When one department can\u2019t respond to a call, the burden shifts to nearby departments, overloading them in turn. Mutual aid becomes routine rather than exceptional, and members begin to burn out.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve heard firefighters say, \u2018I spent more time at the firehouse than I did at home this week,\u2019\u201d D\u2019Lessandro said. \u201cThat kind of strain isn\u2019t sustainable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leonard agrees. \u201cWhen people can\u2019t keep up with the demands, they leave. And we lose not just a firefighter, we lose experience, leadership and community trust.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leonard said switching to all paid fire departments just isn\u2019t feasible.<\/p>\n
According to a FASNY study conducted in 2023, an additional 31,058 career firefighters would be necessary to go to an all-paid fire service.\u00a0 The annual cost of an all-career fire service would be $4.7 billion, there would be a one-time cost of $8.2 billion to acquire existing stations\/structures, vehicles and equipment and property taxes would rise an average 28.4 percent statewide.<\/p>\n
The issue isn\u2019t limited to volunteers. Even paid departments are struggling to attract applicants. Civil service exams that once drew hundreds now attract far fewer, as wages fail to keep pace with inflation and workplace risks continue to mount.<\/p>\n
Still, leaders like D\u2019Lessandro and Leonard are determined to keep the system alive. They say the public must better understand the stakes and how they can help.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis isn\u2019t a volunteer vs. career issue,\u201d D\u2019Lessandro said. \u201cIt\u2019s a public safety issue. If we don\u2019t have enough people to respond, everyone\u2019s at risk. We need more hands on the hose or the whole system starts to crack.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leonard, who is also an instructor at the Nassau Fire Academy, says he is hopeful after seeing the numbers in new probationary firefighters increase by 20 percent in the last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been averaging about 600 [firefighters] a year, and we\u2019re shooting for about 720 this year, so we\u2019re seeing more recruits,\u201d said Leonard.<\/p>\n
But while there are more recruits, there are also losses due to retirement, college students moving and unfortunately deaths.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve got to join because you want to serve your community. You\u2019re willing to put yourself out there and put yourself at risk to help your neighbors and get a sense of satisfaction,\u201d said Leonard. \u201cAnd that paycheck can\u2019t be matched, the sense of satisfaction you get from helping your neighbors.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the sirens wail and fire trucks roll down neighborhood streets, the reassuring presence of first responders masks…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":30603,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,26098,6526,7834,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,26099,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-30602","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-fasny","10":"tag-firefighters","11":"tag-nassau-county","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-city","14":"tag-newyork","15":"tag-newyorkcity","16":"tag-ny","17":"tag-nyc","18":"tag-shortage","19":"tag-united-states","20":"tag-united-states-of-america","21":"tag-unitedstates","22":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","23":"tag-us","24":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114779546470594050","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30602\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}