Rockland hopes upgraded fire training facilities, incentives improve recruitment

The lifeblood of Rockland's fire and other emergency services are volunteers.

The county's 26 fire companies, ambulance corps, multiple governments, and schools go to great lengths to recruit and retain first responders. The volunteers save lives and property and taxpayers millions of dollars in the costs of a paid fire department.

Rockland Emergency Medical Services agencies, ambulance corps, and paramedics respond annually to more than 40,000 calls and fire departments respond to more than 9,000 calls annually.

Recruiting and retaining volunteers is job one

Recruiting and retaining firefighters and EMS personnel becomes paramount.

Toward that end, programs to encourage volunteerism include partially paid college tuition, property tax breaks, and state pensions. The Rockland Fire Training Center, the hub of the county's fire services, is overseeing construction of an estimated $2.5 million training facility to simulate emergencies. The center's staff oversees training and supports recruitment and retention efforts.

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Chris Kear, the director of the Rockland Office of Fire & Emergency Services, said volunteers are the lifeline.

"Recruitment and retention have always been tough," Kear said. "Not everybody who joins their local departments stay. He said volunteers move out for economic reasons or go to college. Many find they don't have the time to spare."

The concept of community service is potent but not always enough. So the fire services and partners offer college tuition programs, government tax-breaks and upgraded training, hopefully to draw more volunteers and encourage them to stay.

Programs to encourage recruitment

The Rockland County government has launched a tuition reimbursement program - Higher Education Recruitment and Retention Opportunity - to help volunteer fire departments and EMS agencies recruit and retain more volunteers.

The program, known as H.E.R.R.O., provides up to $6,000 a year - $3,000 per semester - in tuition reimbursement to any college for volunteers.

The government has partnered with Rockland Community College to launch the RCC EDGES Program, or Educational Development & Growth for Emergency Services, which waives tuition to RCC for volunteer emergency responders. The SUNY college also provides firefighter science classes.

“These programs are a great way to assist fire departments and ambulance corps in recruiting and retaining volunteers,” Kear said. “Supporting our volunteers is also crucial to maintaining these voluntary services, which save taxpayers a lot of money.”

STAC offers a tuition discount

Just recently, the Sparkill-Palisades Fire District became part of the tuition recruitment concept with St. Thomas Aquinas College.

Starting in the spring of 2024, St. Thomas Aquinas will offer a 50% tuition discount for both resident and commuter students who join the fire department and meet minimum service requirements for training and calls for service, said Mike Yannazzone Jr., the acting chief of the district's John Paulding Engine Co.

As an additional incentive, the St. Thomas Aquinas program will offer a 25% tuition discount to spouses, children, and grandchildren toward undergraduate and graduate degrees. Yannazzone said.

The students also can apply for the H.E.R.R.O. program.

Nwe support offered by the state

The New York State Division of Homeland Security will host hearings on enacting a training stipend for volunteer firefighters to aid recruitment and retention

The stipends would range from $500 to $1,250. The state budget allocates $10 million to offset the costs of required training courses.

“The role volunteer firefighters play in our communities cannot be overstated, and with so many departments facing recruitment and retention challenges, it’s critical we support these brave men and women who keep our communities safe,” Homeland Security and Emergency Services Commissioner Jackie Bray said in a statement.

The money is earmarked for the following:

Upgraded training for firefighters at county facility

Fier officials expect the upgrades at the Fire Training Center to make better firefighters.

Aside from dozens of firehouses dotting the county, the Rockland Fire Training Center is the hub. The building is bounded by woods off Route 45 on Firemen's Memorial Drive in Ramapo. The Ramapo baseball stadium, an American Legion Hall, and the former Hi-Tor Animal Center are neighbors.

The center, built in 1973 and featuring a firefighter monument at its front door, hosts 18-week fire training programs. The building also houses the police and EMS training facilities, the county 44 Control communications operation, and household hazardous waste processing.

Finishing touches are being made to the multiple-purpose Fire Operations Building at the center. Kear estimates training to start in 2024.

The building can provide for any possible emergencies.

The two-story building - 30-feet wide and 70-feet long.- will have several burn rooms to simulate smoke and heat conditions. The building can train firefighters for search and rescue missions, stretch hose lines, repelling from roofs, and carrying injured in baskets.

Firefighters will train to move and coordinate in smoky conditions with poor visibility and through flames.

"This building will be extremely important when it comes to training firefighters and saving lives," Kear said. "We can train for any possible emergency.

"This building has been overdue," Kear said. "Our burn building and tower has been out of service. It was built more than 40 years ago and is no longer safe."

The training center also is seeking $200,000 from the New York State Dormitory Authority to purchase a trailer-type maze. The trailer would allow firefighters to train within tight conditions, moving through smoke and heat. A trainer would control the levels of smoke and heat from a control room with video monitors, sound and lights.

In the past, firefighters have faced such life-threatening dangers, such as houses with make-shift rooms and a blaze to the violation-ridden Motty's supermarket on Route 306 in Monsey. The fire destroyed the market and endangered firefighters.

The training facility - while long planned - comes nearly three years after the inferno at the rundown Evergreen Court Home for Adults in Spring Valley during which Firefighter Lt. Jared Lloyd and a resident died.

Volunteers save tax dollars

Volunteer departments have been a Rockland tradition for more than a century.

Rockland's current estimate of 1,900 active firefighters are part of an 80,000 force across the state that saves taxpayers an estimated $4.7 billion annually, according to an economic study released by the Firefighters Association of the State of New York, known as FASNY.

Outside of paid firefighters in cities and urban areas, volunteer firefighters make up nearly 93% of the fire responders who protect life and property across the state, according to FASNY.

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The number of Rockland volunteers for each department can fluctuate, rising and falling during periods as recruitment is every day across the calendar. The county's mutual aid system designates departments - including oness with low turnout during the day, for example - to back each other up during fire and other emergencies.

In Rockland, the volunteer firefighters save taxpayers an estimated $50 to $60 million annually, Kear said.

Kear has said that minus a detailed study, too many variables are involved with a paid department to determine a precise cost. He projected a paid department could require 550 to 600 firefighters.

Steve Lieberman covers government, breaking news, courts, police, and investigations. Reach him at slieberm@lohud.com Twitter: @lohudlegal

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This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Rockland upgrading training and incentives for volunteers firefighters