The Painted Post Fire Department kicked off its annual recruitment campaign April 18 at Top’s Friendly Market in Riverside.
Painted Post isn’t alone in trying to attract new members.
This year marks the 17th annual RecruitNY campaign across New York state, with local fire stations opening their doors and welcoming the community to see what they do in an effort to attract much-needed new volunteers.
“We are proud of the Painted Post Fire Department, and we want to show that to the community and to potential volunteers,” said Bill Halline, a Painted Post firefighter for the past 55 years. “It’s a great Fire Department to be a member of, and it does so much for the safety of the village.”
Painted Post Fire Department Vice President Bob Smith said RecruitNY is a great way for departments to drive up recruitment to help better serve their communities.
“We’re proud of our department,” Halline said.
RecruitNY allows people in the community to reconnect with their fire department and for people who have an interest to investigate what it takes to become a volunteer firefighter.
Volunteer firefighters on the decline, FASNY says
New York’s volunteer fire service saves taxpayers $3.8 billion per year, according to the Firefighters Association of the State on New York (FASNY). Financial and cultural changes have resulted in a decrease in the number of volunteers, from about 120,000 in the early 2000s to about 80,000 today, FASNY stated.
While the decline in volunteers has not yet resulted in a crisis, FASNY said, more volunteers are needed to support the emergency response system in local communities and around the state.
In recent years, FASNY has developed programs such as providing stipends for training, grants for capital improvements, and funds for equipment purchases around the state.
How FASNY proposes to boost volunteer firefighter recruitment
To coincide with the 2026 RecruitNY campaign, FASNY rolled out a series of proposals aimed at boosting volunteer firefighter recruitment and retention.
The “Volunteer Optimization Legislative Initiative” is a package of 14 individual and straightforward actions that would provide additional recruitment and retention tools to volunteer departments, the organization said.
The 14 actions would treat volunteers uniformly across the state and be available to all departments. FASNY said it is “looking forward to working with Gov. Hochul, the Legislature and the Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Services to make these initiatives a reality.”
Here is the list of proposals:
This article originally appeared on The Leader: FASNY aims to boost volunteer fire departments amid drop in numbers
Reporting by Jeff Smith, Corning Leader / The Leader
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
