Babylon junior firefighter drill events aim at building future volunteers

Babylon is trying to unite junior firefighter programs at eight fire departments for townwide drills and events to build a pipeline of future adult volunteers. 

Junior firefighter programs allow kids from as young as 8 to 17 years old to learn the basic skills of firefighting. Once they age out, the teens often go on to join their departments as adult volunteers, fire officials said. 

The first event will be a hands-on drill on Sunday for the junior firefighters in the Amityville, Copiague, Deer Park, East Farmingdale, Lindenhurst, North Babylon, North Lindenhurst and West Babylon fire departments. Retired FDNY instructors will help guide the juniors in the drill, which starts at 9 a.m. at Firemen’s Memorial Park in Lindenhurst. 

The effort is an attempt to increase fire service volunteerism, which has been in a decline for years, according to local fire officials.

Statewide, the number of firefighters has dropped from 110,000 to under 80,000 in the past 20 years, according to the Firefighters Association of the State of New York.

“We’re trying to get ahead of this and gain the interest while they’re young,” said Terence McSweeney, a Babylon Town councilman and FDNY firefighter who also volunteers with North Babylon’s department.

There will be about 50 girls and boys ages 12 to 17 taking part in the drill, which will involve using the Jaws of Life on donated vehicles to simulate extracting someone, said North Lindenhurst Fire Department volunteer Cirino Sesto, who spearheaded the collaboration. It’s the first time the department junior programs are coming together, he said. The total number of youth in the programs was not available.

“These kids are the future of the volunteer fire service,” Sesto said. “If we can get these kids early and get them to see what it means to be a volunteer, we can build up this system.”

Sesto, 53, said that not only has recruitment of volunteers been increasingly difficult, many volunteers are now in their 60s or older.

“It’s a strain on the community,” he said. “A 65-year-old guy may not get out of bed as quick as you need them to.”

Sesto's son, Cirino Sesto III, 12, has been a part of the North Lindenhurst juniors program for two years. He said he joined because it was a "great opportunity to be part of the community and help it" and had seen how his older sisters, who had been in the program, had enjoyed it.

"It's been awesome, but it's also tough sometimes cause the stuff we do is the same thing that actual firemen do," he said. 

McSweeney credits a juniors program as igniting his interest in becoming a professional firefighter.

“Walking into the firehouse after they’d been to a fire and smelling the smoke, I’d be like, wow!” he said. “And then talking to the guys and learning what they did … I was 8 years old and I was hooked.”

Sesto, who is a chiropractor, said his junior program experience taught him about accountability and how to handle stress.

“It’s put my life in perspective and helped me keep my feet on the ground in the face of adversity,” he said.

He aims to have the junior programs meet several times a year.

“My goal is to get this program unified so that everybody in the town knows that if your kid doesn’t want to play sports or if there’s nothing in school that interests them, give the fire department a try,” Sesto said. “You’ll be helping the community and may even save a life.”

By Denise M. Bonilla

denise.bonilla@newsday.comdenisebonilla

Denise Bonilla has worked at Newsday since 2003 and covers the Town of Babylon, including the villages of Lindenhurst and Amityville.