Fire officials: recruits needed

Supply inadequate to meet demand, chiefs say

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With more than 900 calls so far this year, the total number of emergencies that the Franklin Square & Munson Fire Department responds to could exceed 1,400 by the end of December, according to Chief Dominick Labianca. With an increasing number of calls, the department is having an increasingly harder time recruiting members.

“It’s our busiest time ever, but it’s also our lowest membership yet,” Labianca said.

Volunteers comprise more than 70 percent of all firefighters in the U.S., but their ranks have been declining throughout the nation in recent years, according to the National Volunteer Fire Council. In its 2015 report on recruitment and retention, the NVFC found that the number of volunteer firefighters and emergency responders had dropped by 12 percent over the previous 30 years. The report indicated that the decline would leave “nearly half of U.S. communities at increased risk during emergencies,” its authors wrote.

The trend has continued this year. While the FSMFD has some 100 volunteers, it needs double that number to operate at peak performance, Labianca said. Several of the department’s firefighters are well past the age of active service, he added.

Elmont Board of Fire Commissioners Chairman Ralph Esposito touched on the subject during the State of Elmont meeting in the spring, saying the Elmont department was having trouble keeping young volunteers. As a result, it relies on older volunteers.

“I can’t even keep [young volunteers] for five years,” Esposito said. “They don’t last.”

Esposito and other members of the Elmont and Franklin Square communities blamed the rising cost of living for the drop in younger members. Because Nassau is one of the most expensive counties in the nation, Esposito said, younger residents choose to leave Elmont for more affordable locations with jobs. Accoding to U.S. Census Bureau data, a majority of Elmont and Franklin Square residents are 35 and older and 40 and older, respectively.

Fire Department officials also said that students have to focus so much of their time on school and part-time work that they are left with little or no time to volunteer. Labianca added that adults were also pressed for time.

FSMFD ex-chief and current Chief Training Officer Martin Golden explained that becoming a volunteer firefighter takes nearly a year of training and tests before a recruit is ready to go into the field. Most Nassau firefighters take courses at the Fire Service Academy in Bethpage, but that can be difficult to complete while studying for college or working a full-time job.

The NVFC’s report revealed that the amount of training time required to be a firefighter was one of the biggest hindrances to recruitment and retention. The report advised fire departments and academies to allow online classes, as well as more training to be conducted at firehouses..

“We do our drills and training here on Sundays and bring in teachers from the Nassau Fire Academy to go over certain things,” Golden said. “We even have classrooms here for people to learn about the fire service.”

The report also found that a lack of rewards, such as a salary, were among the factors keeping people from volunteering. Instead, the report showed that firefighters mainly stayed with their local departments because of family connections.

It is the same for most FSMFD volunteers. Chief of Department John Salzman Jr. is the son of a former chief. Salzman said he started at the department when he was 14. Salzman’s fiancée, Gabriella Golden, and her father, Martin, also come from a line of firefighters in Franklin Square and Brooklyn. Martin, who has been with the FSMFD for 41 years, said satisfaction was the biggest reward from volunteering. Most volunteer firefighters surveyed by NVFC agreed.

“My daughter is 24 years old, and she works on the truck with me, like my 21-year-old son,” Martin said. “I’ve also got a 15-year-old son, and I can’t wait to get him into this.”

The FSMFD offers a pension program and college scholarships for members, but families and friends are still the strongest form of recruitment. Katerina Giannakopoulos, captain of the FSMFD Fire Explorers, came to the firehouse with her friend Rhina Salazar to drop off their applications on July 29. Giannakopoulos said she wants to become a fire medic and work with the FSMFD firefighters.

“We’re applying right now, and we’ll get a call in a month or two to see if we made it,” she said.

If the two 18-year-olds pass the department’s interview process, they will be sworn in with the other recruits in January and begin their training and probationary service with firefighters or emergency medical technicians.

“I’m glad Kat told me about this,” Salazar said. “It’s a great hands-on way to do something to help the community.”

Those looking to volunteer at the Franklin Square & Munson Fire Department can call (516) 354-2110 or email recruit@fsmfd.org. Those hoping to volunteer at the Elmont Fire Department can call (516) 354-8213 or email recruitment@elmontfd.com.