Volunteer fire officials discuss legislative agenda, including proposal to prop up recruiting and retention

Volunteer firefighters gathered in Albertson Saturday morning to discuss a series of legislative priorities designed to improve recruitment and retention in departments across New York.

The Firefighters Association of the State of New York, which represents volunteer firefighters statewide, held its annual legislative agenda session at the Albertson Fire Department headquarters. The organization ran through its legislative score card tracking a series of bills in different stages of the state bill adoption process. It also unveiled a 14-point plan — the "Volunteer Optimization Legislation Initiative," or VOLI — to help improve recruitment and retention.

Fire officials said a statewide volunteer force of around 120,000 in the early 2000s has dwindled to around 80,000, though the reductions have slowed in recent years. Several Long Island programs target aspiring young firefighters in an effort to improve overall numbers, Newsday has reported. 

"We've stopped the bleeding. We bring in about as many people as we lose every year," John D'Alessandro, FASNY's secretary, said during the meeting, which drew a few dozen attendees. "But we want to do more."

The organization's score card outlined a series of legislative successes, including bills signed last year phasing out forever chemicals known as PFAS in firefighter protective equipment and extending the ability of fire department-run ambulances to recover costs of service from insurance companies through 2031.

"That is a direct tax savings for all the people in your community because if we didn't recover this money from the insurance company, well, somebody's got to pay for that," said Michael Reid, a member of FASNY's Legislative Committee.

Elected officials, including Sens. Steven Rhoads (R-Bellmore), Jack Martins (R-Old Westbury), Siela Bynoe (D-Westbury) and Legis. Kayla Knight (R-Wantagh), attended the session.

Other priorities remain, officials said, including updating the Volunteer Firefighters Benefit Law.

The legislation, which has been referred to committees in the State Senate and Assembly, would raise permanent disability benefits to parity with workers' compensation payments.

"We want to make sure, if you fall on hard times, if there's a tragedy, that you are supported and that you get the benefits that you need," said Bynoe, whose District 6 covers parts of southern Nassau.

FASNY's 14-point recruitment and retention plan — a sweeping set of transformative measures to improve volunteer fire service benefits — has not been formally adopted as a bill, though officials on Saturday said they hoped it could be picked up as a collective piece of legislation.

"We need a bunch of stuff in the tool kit, so departments can pick and choose what works for them, both financially and in terms of the demographics of their community," D'Alessandro said.

Among the proposals is an attempt to increase the $200 volunteer firefighter base tax credit to $800 and an additional graduated tax credit of $50 per four-hour duty crew shift, maxing out at $7,500 annually. The plan also proposes a tax credit of up to $5,000 for volunteer firefighters and EMS personnel for child care and exemptions for mortgage recording taxes.

"Both sides of the aisle, there's one thing that we all rally around and we agree on: Our support of the fire service," said Martins, whose Senate District 7 covers northern Nassau .

Other parts of the 14-point proposal would allow fire companies to provide reimbursement "for reasonable expenses incurred," including through gas cards, and establish public service loan forgiveness and state tuition assistance for volunteer fire and EMS workers.