Skip to content Skip to footer

Sen. O’Mara Speaks About Volunteer Firefighter Recruiting

April 6, 2016
 
 
ALBANY, NY – This morning, State Senator Tom O’Mara (R, Big Flats) joined a number of his Senate colleagues, volunteer firefighters and representatives of the Firemen’s Association of the State of New York (FASNY) to promote FASNY’s upcoming “RecruitNY” weekend. That’s an annual public awareness initiative sponsored by FASNY to encourage the recruitment and retention of local volunteer firefighters and EMTs.

This year’s RecruitNY campaign is scheduled for the weekend of April 23-24, 2016. Throughout the weekend volunteer fire departments across the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes regions and statewide conduct Open Houses and invite the public to come and learn more about becoming a volunteer firefighter.
 
“The challenge of recruiting volunteer firefighters and EMTs, especially in our rural, upstate communities, deserves all of the attention it gets.
Keeping our corps of emergency services volunteers strong has to be a statewide priority. Our volunteer fire departments have long been the foundation of public safety and security, and the center of community service and civic pride, and we can’t risk their decline,” said Senator O’Mara. “It’s a challenge that we need to keep working on and raising awareness about because in addition to the safety and well-being of our communities, the economic impact of volunteer emergency services is enormous. RecruitNY sounds the alarm and accomplishes these goals very effectively.”
 
For a county-by-county list of fire departments locally and statewide currently scheduled to hold a RecruitNY Open House, visit FASNY’s website.
For regional counties, the FASNY study estimates that the property tax increases that would result from moving from volunteer to all-paid fire fire services would be: Chemung (33.8% increase), Schuyler (36.1%), Steuben (40.3%), Tioga (48%), Tompkins (45.4%) and Yates (33.8%). Click here to read full study on that.


Social Share Buttons and Icons powered by Ultimatelysocial