ELLICOTTVILLE, NY — Hundreds of firefighters and their families from across New York State gathered in Ellicottville this week for the annual Firefighters Association of the State of New York convention, as the number of new volunteers has hit a 40-year low.
More than 600 attendees took part in networking, hands-on training, classroom instruction, and the election of new association officers.
This year's convention also included sessions on PTSD awareness and the mental health challenges facing those in the volunteer fire service.
Over 90% of fire departments in New York State are volunteer-based, and recruitment and retention have emerged as the defining challenge facing those departments.
"Most of our challenge today is recruitment," said Edward Tase Jr., immediate past president of the Firefighters Association of the State of New York and a 50-year member of the Niagara County fire service. "With the families growing and all in the family's divided times and stresses, makes it very difficult for young folk to give them the time of the volunteering."
Tase said volunteer firefighters save New York State taxpayers more than $1 billion a year and that departments are fielding more calls than ever.
"New York is very blessed to have over 80,000 volunteer firefighters every single day, giving of their time, their talent, and their experience and their love for their communities," Tase said.
WATCH: Firefighters from across New York gather in Ellicottville for annual FASNY convention
David Morales of the Firefighters Association of the State of New York said there is no single solution to the recruitment problem, but that gatherings like the convention are part of the answer.
"Volunteer firefighters give up their most important resource, which is their time, and there's no silver bullet to up membership," Morales said. "But conventions like this and gatherings like this allow us to get together, put our heads together and come up with ideas, share ideas of what's been successful for recruiting, what hasn't been successful."
Morales added that the fire service needs more than people willing to fight fires.
"There's so much more than just putting water on a fire," he said. "We need bookkeepers. We need people who are good with numbers. We will take absolutely anybody who wants to volunteer."
New York State Assemblywoman Karen McMahon, who represents the 146th district in the town of Amherst, attended the convention and is championing legislation that would increase the tax credit for volunteer firefighters and ambulance workers across the state. The bill passed unanimously in both chambers of the state legislature and is awaiting the governor's signature.
"Recruitment and retention is the main concern, and that was the basis for the legislation," McMahon said. "The volunteer fire companies are aging, and a lot of the most active members are people who are retired. So there really needs to be a push to get younger people involved."
McMahon said the stakes are high for communities that depend on volunteer departments.
"New York State couldn't function really without our volunteer fire service," she said. "We couldn't employ professional firefighters in every community."
The convention also honored those who demonstrated exceptional bravery in the past year.
This year's Firefighter of the Year award went to Charles Karen, a 20-year-old firefighter with the Carle Place Fire Department on Long Island, who pulled his assistant chief out of a burning roof during a working fire in the neighboring town of Albertson.
Assistant Chief William Geddish said his crew was assigned to perform vertical ventilation on the roof when it gave way.
"As we were on the roof, in preparing to cut the roof, the roof collapsed, and I fell in," Geddish said.
Karen, who had been with the department for less than a year at the time, said he acted on instinct.
"My dad was a volunteer firefighter. It's like it runs in the family, but it was all instincts like what are you gonna do when you see someone fall in a hole? You're gonna grab them out," Karen said.
Geddish spent three weeks in the hospital, including a week intubated, and suffered second degree burns on his face and leg.
"I've played the day in my head over a lot and in my head, there are a lot of scenarios in which I don't make it off that roof," Geddish said. "So I'm lucky that Charles was the guy there."
"If you enjoy helping people, it's like it's the place to be," Karen said. "You make a lot of friends. It's all around a good experience."
The convention continues through the weekend in Ellicottville. Next year's event is scheduled for Buffalo.
