Does NYS Law Say You Can Belong To Only One Department?

[Guest NN278]

I was wondering if it was true that New York says you can belong to only one department? If so, why? I live between two different departments and don't see the reason why I cannot serve on both.

[mikeinet 37]

I'm not sure where this law is, but 99% sure this is the case.

Many times someone will be a full active member in one department, and (if agreed by both chiefs) be an associate or some sort of member at another dept and do "mutual aide" to their calls

[DMA327 12]

In New York, besides the fact if you have a job as a paid firefighter, you can only be an active firefighter in one volunteer fire department. However you can be an Associate member of another department and if you are at a call with that department, the chief can put you to work if necessary.

You can also go on calls if you live in another town or if you work in a town at least 8 hrs. a day, 5 days a week=40 hours.

I believe thats the case

[COMMANDCHIEF 4]

I think the "membership" issue dates back to when "volunteer fire companies" were very important groups when it came to political elections. It was a common practice for politicians to try to win favor with one or more companies. These were large pools of potential votes.

[mfc2257 464]

Don't hold me to this. I believe that the law changed and now states something to the fact that you can only collect benifits from 1 benevolant association but that you can be a member of more than one department.

[SteveOFD 176]

FYI, did some research and found an answer to this question.

Unless there is another section I am missing, both the Village Law and the Town Law of New York both state "A person shall not be eligible to volunteer membership in more than one fire company at one time." (Town Law Article 11, 176-b section 10, Village Law Article 10, section 10-1006 section 10).

http://www.senate.state.ny.us then click on Bills&Laws, then click on Laws of NY