Volunteer firefighters are continually confronted with the problem of recruiting new firefighters and emergency medical technicians as name quantity will increase and energetic membership decreases.

This weekend, Firefighters from the sixth Battalion, which incorporates Bellmore, East Meadow, Levittown, Massapequa, Merrick, North Bellmore, North Massapequa, North Merrick, Seaford and Wantagh, will open their doorways for the 14th Annual RecruitNY marketing campaign.

At open homes scattered all through the world on April 22 and 23, these focused on becoming a member of the departments can have the chance to speak to energetic volunteers, ask questions, and study the advantages of turning into a firefighter or EMT .

The Firefighters Affiliation of New York estimates that there are 20,000 fewer volunteer firefighters as we speak than there have been 20 years in the past. Calls have gotten extra various, as volunteers are referred to as for medical emergencies, flooded basements, downed energy strains, automobile accidents and fires, the affiliation stated.

Sixth Battalion members are close-knit, based on Chairman Peter Cheswick, the fast former chief of the East Meadow Hearth Division. They meet month-to-month to debate enterprise, which additionally consists of methods to recruit new members into their respective fireplace departments.

“We’re all seeing the identical issues,” Cheswick stated. “It would not matter if it is East Meadow, Wantagh, Seaford – we’re all affected by the identical issues as low numbers of individuals eager to volunteer.”

Cheswick, who began with the East Meadow Hearth Division in its junior program when he was 15, after which formally when he turned 18, stated he began seeing the decline in new volunteers about 10 years in the past.

Bellmore Hearth Chief Timothy Carroll stated he has seen a decline in his fireplace division membership 5 to 6 years in the past.

“It is all relative,” Carroll stated. “If you happen to ask a man 50 years in the past, he’ll say, ‘Prior to now, folks had been dying to come back in right here.’ What’s low for me is nearly non-existent for them.

“We attempt to clarify as greatest we will how lengthy will probably be as soon as they merge,” Cheswick stated. “However then folks truly sit down and notice how busy it truly is, and so they cannot do this, so that they find yourself simply leaving after a brief period of time.”

The decline may be attributed to how a lot time they should assist their households. Cheswick stated he works two jobs himself, along with his work with the hearth division.

“You will have your loved ones, you’ve got obligations with work, perhaps two jobs, so it is tougher to maintain these members,” Cheswick stated. “We’re attempting the whole lot we will to cut back the load on folks, but it surely’s arduous as a result of you must work out, you must go to calls, you must come to conferences and know what is going on on.”

Carroll stated, “Because the years have passed by, the common firefighter has aged. The youngsters, that is the 18, 19 12 months olds, they are going to go to school and so they’re not coming again.

“It is so costly to dwell right here,” she added, “Why would you keep if you will get out of right here? Individuals work two or three jobs and so they run out of time”.

Phil Schaaf, a captain at Wantagh Third Hearth Station, stated the issue was not a decline in numbers, however somewhat an ageing fireplace brigade and an absence of youthful members.

“Our members are beginning to age a bit,” Schaaf stated. “So we usher in some new folks — not simply youthful, however simply new — to actually begin integrating a few of those that aren’t capable of be as energetic due to age and well being.”

Firefighters are getting extra calls now because of trendy smoke and carbon monoxide detectors routinely alerting native departments. So although the risk in a house is probably not severe sufficient for a response, firefighters are nonetheless summoned.

Every sixth Battalion division lends mutual help at any time when certainly one of its unbiased firefighters wants help. Prior to now only some calls required mutual assist, however now extra assist is required as there are fewer volunteers answering the calls.

Every fireplace division covers the price of coaching new volunteers, and it takes 4 to 5 months to finish the coaching.

“If I took the oath to you as we speak,” Carroll stated, “I may get you thru the academy lessons in Might, and also you’d end fireplace academy by August, perhaps September. However if you happen to take part September, I am unable to get you into the hearth academy till (subsequent) Might, as a result of they cannot have out of doors lessons within the winter.

New members should reply 25% of all calls throughout their first 12 months and should attend 50% of all coaching periods and 50% of all conferences.

After the primary 12 months, they solely need to attend 20 p.c of calls, conferences and occasions, which Carroll says is about 4 hours every week.

Firefighter volunteers obtain advantages, akin to tuition payment help, tax breaks, and retirement. A volunteer power, in comparison with a career-long fireplace power, saves residents $273 million in annual taxes.

Begin them younger

Probably the greatest methods to recruit and retain volunteers is to get them focused on firefighters at a younger age. Most firefighters have a junior fireplace firm, with volunteers beginning at age 15 and getting a style of what it is wish to be a firefighter or EMT.

They will earn the chance to attend Camp Fahrenheit 516, a week-long camp held throughout the summer time on the Nassau County Hearth Academy in Previous Bethpage, the place they’re skilled in quite a lot of practices they have to study to grow to be a firefighter.

Moreover, Nassau BOCES runs EMT coaching for highschool college students. Cheswick stated East Meadow Hearth Division officers have been attempting to talk at a number of profession days within the East Meadow Faculty District to indicate college students what is accessible to them. Carroll stated Bellmore Firefighters additionally go to John F. Kennedy Excessive Faculty for a similar objective.

“We have been actually adamant about attempting to get faculty districts to allow us to in on their profession days,” Cheswick stated, “so we will present them what volunteer service has to supply.”

The Seaford Hearth Division solely has one firehouse, however former chief George Kern stated its doorways are open to younger individuals who need to make a distinction locally.

“We’re an enormous household,” Kern stated. “We’re neighborhood oriented. We’re in search of firefighters, paramedics and are additionally recruiting for our junior firefighter program which is for center and highschool college students. They may also be very useful in getting the phrase out about us.”

From volunteer to profession

For faculty-age youngsters, free lessons can be found at Nassau Neighborhood Faculty for individuals who volunteer with the native fireplace division.

All that’s required is a signed letter from the chief proving involvement throughout the fireplace district.

Two of Cheswick’s sons, Kasey, 21, and Connor, 19, have taken benefit of this program. Connor is at the moment learning emergency administration at NCC and Kasey has turned his EMT coaching from firefighters right into a full time gig EMT for New York State at Jones Seaside.

Complimentary coaching acquired at native fireplace departments may be taken with members in the event that they want to transition right into a paid profession in New York Metropolis’s EMS, NYPD, FDNY, or EMT.

Lifelong friendship and brotherhood

Based on Schaaf and Kern, volunteer firefighters are engaged in a way of neighborhood and objective.

“It is about serving to the neighborhood and serving to your neighbors,” Schaaf stated. “There’s lots of household enjoyable, in addition to parades and barbecues for households to participate in. There’s rather a lot to do, assist one another, in addition to construct that camaraderie.”

State Senator Steve Rhoads, who has three many years of service with the Wantagh Hearth Division, stated, “My 30 years within the volunteer fireplace division have been among the many most rewarding experiences of my life. The flexibility to reply a neighbor’s name in time of want builds a way of neighborhood that may’t be duplicated another approach.

“We’re all referred to as to serve and use our presents and skills to profit others, and if you happen to be part of as a firefighter or fireplace physician, it is a good way to make a distinction in folks’s lives in a direct and private approach.”