Cortland Standard .net

By AMY GERNON
Staff Reporter
agernon@cortlandstandard.net
Fire departments across New York held recruitment open houses Saturday as part of the statewide Recruit NY event organized by the Firemen’s Association of New York.
In Dryden, the all-volunteer Neptune Hose Co. and Dryden Ambulance crews hung a large American flag from a ladder engine outside of the station house so passers-by would take notice of their open house.
Building a large, active membership among volunteers is a challenge, fire officials said. Busy personal lives limit the training and number of calls volunteers can make, while the state continues to raise the minimum standards for activemembership.
“It all stems from years and years of line-of-duty injuries and line-of-duty deaths,” Dryden’s Deputy Chief Michael Hall said. “It grows and grows, and requirements are added on.”
These challenges make continual recruitment eventsessential to sustaining large,active memberships, particularly among volunteer departments.
Dryden Capt. Tim Arnold explained that the recruitment was not just intended for those interested in becoming certified to fight structural fires or for paramedics; the fire service is interested in expanding its crew with a variety of skills among individuals over the age of 16. Arnold’s entire family, including his wife, 20-year-old son and 14-year-old daughter, plays a role in the operations at thedepartment.
The Dryden department, in addition to the annual Recruit NY open house, hosts a few events throughout the year meant to raise awareness of what the department does to serve the community. Each summer the department runs a Junior Fire Academy, two one-week youth programs designed to introduce young residents, ages 8 to12 and 13 to 16, about the operations at the station.
Stacey Arnold, Tim’s Arnold’s wife and an active member of the department, explains that this prepares younger residents to become part of the department later.
“If we are ever needed at their home, they aren’t afraid of seeing us,” Stacey Arnold said.
Another Dryden firefighter, Justin Baker, said Dryden’s youth program is unique in the area and has been used as a model for similar programs throughout the state and as far away as Maryland.
“It’s an opportunity to get introduced to the service,” Baker said.
Volunteers also have an opportunity each summer to participate in an intense two-week, 136-hour boot camp held at the Cortlandville Fire Station on Route 13. Successful completion of the program brings the volunteer to Firefighter 1 status as recognized by the state, and greatly shortens the training period for new recruits.
Marathon Fire District Chief Norm Forrest reported two new recruits by the end of Saturday. One recruit is a local high school student, who Forrest hopes will inspire his classmates to become interested in joining the department. Forrest says that his department will host a program at the high school to increase awareness among youngerpeople.
The other recruit to Marathon approached Forrest through RecruitNY.org, a website set up by FASNY which facilitates recruitment to departments statewide throughout the year. In this case, recruit Chris Lango moved to the area with prior firefighting experience in Westchester County.
Joe Morales, president of the department’s Board of Engineers for the four fire companies inthe city, led the volunteerrecruitment event at the central station house with a chicken barbecue. He said he explained to potential recruits what type of sacrifices they would have to make to be active members of the department, but also emphasized the rewards, which include free annual physicals and training.
Both the Neptune Hose Company in Dryden and the city department offer a bunking program, which gives new recruits another benefit to joining. Bunkers, who are typically college students from out of the area, are given a place to live at the stations in exchange for 36 hours of on-duty time each week. For the city department, it is a perk that facilitates an active membership, according to Morales. For the Dryden crew, having a bunker reduces their response time since there is always a firefighter at the station house, according to Hall.
Devon Lockwood is a bunker at Neptune Hose Co. who is studying outdoor recreation at Tompkins Cortland Community College.
“It’s essentially how I pay for my college,” said Lockwood, who works seasonally at the Greek Peak ski resort in Virgil.
By the end of the day, Dryden had four new recruits, including Zach Cooper, who had previously participated in the Junior Fire Academy in Dryden. The city’s recruiting event brought in six recruits, Morales said.
For Morales, who works for the state’s Office of Childrenand Family Services as a youth division aide, the greatestreward of being a volunteerfirefighter is the camaraderie and the sense of family thedepartment offers.
“I moved here from New Mexico and didn’t have many friends or family,” said Morales, adding that the department has become like a family. “When I joined, I was welcomed as part of a fellowship.”
For Arnold, the reward for their service is knowing that the people they serve in the community are safe.
“The reward is to know the person (we helped) made it in the end,” he said.”