New York’s governor signed a bill last week that takes on the growing decline in volunteer firefighters across the state. The new law creates a New York State Recruitment and Retention Task Force to study challenges to getting people to become volunteer firefighters. Rockland’s Director of Fire and Emergency Services Chris Kear says it is a challenge to attract and retain volunteers, especially those who don’t realize, being a volunteer firefighter doesn’t mean you have to actually fight fires…
John D’Allesandro is with the Firemen’s Association of the State of New York, and says they’ve been pushing for this for years…
The task force will be made up of key stakeholders from the fire service and various lawmakers. They’ll begin meeting next year to come up with ideas to increase both volunteer firefighter recruitment and retention.