Bell Has Sounded For Change-FASNY President

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Bell has sounded for change

LI's fire service volunteers deserve more support from state and local governments, and renewed dedication to administrative oversight

BY EDWARD A. CARPENTER

Edward A. Carpenter is the president of the Firemen's Association of the State of New York and a 42-year member and former chief of the Sayville Fire Department.

November 23, 2005

The volunteer fire service's legacy of neighbors helping neighbors dates back to Benjamin Franklin and Colonial times. And although firefighters - both our volunteer professionals and their career colleagues - value our traditions, we all must acknowledge that 21st century Long Island, while still a beautiful and great place to live, has changed significantly.

For our volunteers to continue being a viable method of delivering key public safety services to our communities, both the fire service and the communities we serve must work together to adapt the system to our changing world. Our goal is several hundred more years of neighbors helping neighbors here on Long Island.

Newsday's "Fire Alarm" series has raised some important issues that the volunteer fire service here on Long Island needs to address. They include: increased fiscal oversight and accountability; better communicating how we quickly and consistently deliver our services; recruitment and retention of volunteers; and additional legislative and governmental support for the volunteer system. We also need to ensure that we have the complete trust and confidence of the public we serve - both at fire scenes and in our meeting rooms and other administrative matters.

Although the Firemen's Association of the State of New York has no specific oversight authority over local fire districts and fire departments, it has long been committed to creating an appropriate fiscal climate, including hosting an ongoing series of seminars on fiscal responsibility and legal reporting requirements for our members and their fire departments. Being a volunteer is no excuse for not doing the right thing.

With this in mind, FASNY has sought the assistance of the chairs of the State Legislature's Local Government Committees, Sen. Betty Little (R-Queensbury) and Assemb. Bob Sweeney (D-Lindenhurst), in cooperating with elected representatives to ensure that any cases of abuse are addressed appropriately. As a "rank and file association," we are not in a position to call for official oversight. But, if potential situations of abuse cited by Newsday are correct, then it is only fitting that the offices of the state comptroller and attorney general should investigate these allegations.

Many issues raised in the series were administrative matters focusing on budgets, benefits, the costs of fire apparatus and new firehouses. Although some individuals and local groups have taken actions that raise serious questions, I can assure you the vast majority of the 19,000 dedicated men and women who serve our communities do not leave the comfort and safety of their homes and families thousands of times each year for "a bigger firehouse" or a "shinier fire truck." Both FASNY and the average volunteer riding the fire truck welcome additional fiscal oversight and increased accountability of fire district and fire department spending.

At no point in these past couple of weeks has the series questioned the bravery and dedication of our volunteer firefighters and emergency medical services when the bell sounds. Long Islanders can rest assured that we are coming to help them, regardless of the time of day, the location of the emergency or the socioeconomic status of the victims. We in the fire service must now restore and maintain a similar level of trust and satisfaction when it comes to our financial and administrative dealings.

One of the few actual operational issues raised in the series was response times for the first fire engines and ambulances arriving at the scenes of emergencies. We strongly disagree with Newsday's findings in this instance, which did not account for the arrival of chiefs or first responders at emergency scenes. They arrive minutes after the call, in many cases taking immediate lifesaving actions or, if warranted, advising other units to slow down their response.

Newsday's analysis also does not account for the impact of responses to less than life-threatening emergencies, such as a ringing carbon-monoxide detector when no one at the location is suffering from any illness or injury. (Many fire departments respond to this as a nonemergency, with no use of lights or sirens.) As a former chief, I can confidently tell the public that your fire department's response time to a real fire or other potentially serious emergency in your home will more often than not be much better than the "average" response time reported by Newsday. But the burden is on us, local firefighters and EMS providers, to clarify how we keep our records and report them to you in a clear fashion that will allow you to judge your local service in the proper context.

Newsday's report correctly points out a decline in volunteers in recent years. FASNY has worked with state and local governments in recent years to increase the number of new volunteers entering the ranks while simultaneously undertaking programs that encourage our seasoned veterans to remain active. But increasing the number of new recruits will go only so far if we do not stem the rising tide of nonemergency or false alarms our members are forced to respond to each year. This is especially true in the delivery of emergency medical services - particularly in Suffolk County.

Local and county governments could play a stronger role in helping us greatly reduce the burden of unnecessary "emergency" alarms. Our call volumes have grown dramatically with the increased requirements for and popularity of automatic fire alarm systems. Every year, a significant number of these calls are repeated false alarms, often the result of poor maintenance and operation of the systems. Increased code enforcement and more stringent penalties for improperly maintained alarm systems would greatly decrease the number of these calls.

Increased and coordinated support from all levels of government - most at little or no cost to the taxpayers - would boost our recruitment and retention efforts. For example, FASNY, along with the State Legislature, the governor and local government officials on Long Island, has worked hard in recent years to expand the benefits available to our volunteer firefighters and emergency medical technicians. Unfortunately, some local governments do not participate in incentives like the 10-percent property tax reduction program for volunteers - a small benefit that would improve their quality of life.

Newsday has written extensively on the "brain drain" affecting communities across Long Island due to the lack of affordable housing and, in some cases, the high cost of health care for young families. Again, state and local governments could make a huge difference in these areas, keeping young, prospective volunteers on the Island and active in our fire departments and EMS squads.

By working with state and local governments to devise ways to attract new volunteers, develop appropriate incentives for retaining seasoned veterans and by increasing fiscal controls and oversight, we will ensure that Long Islanders will enjoy cost-efficient support from their local volunteer firefighters and EMS providers for several centuries to come. Some traditions are worth preserving.