The Firemen’s Association of the State of New York (FASNY) last week released what it calls the “first comprehensive economic study in more than a decade outlining the fiscal impact of volunteer fire service on NYS Taxpayers.”
The study found, quite predictably, that New York’s nearly 100,000 volunteer firefighters save taxpayers more than $3 billion each year. It concluded that if the fire departments which these volunteers staff switched to all-paid fire service,
- an additional 30,822 firefighters would need to be hired,
- more than 1,300 fire stations would have to be built new or reconstructed,
- there would be one-time cost of $5.95 billion to acquire existing structures, vehicles and equipment, and most important,
- property taxes across the state would rise on average 26.5% to cover the added cost.
The full report is definitely worth reading.
Of course, as a volunteer firefighter and a taxpayer I see a lot of value in the volunteer fire service. The New York State Professional Fire Fighters Association, the group which represents paid firefighters, sees otherwise. According to the NYSPFFA, which says that it represents 107 paid departments with over 18,000 active professional firefighters, the report is flawed in that it “fails to acknowledge the differences between paid and volunteer firefighters, including their availability, qualifications, service quality, accountability and response times.” The NYSPFFA’s web site cites to a report it prepared in 2015, “Setting the Record Straight.”
It is true, as the NYSPFFA says, that “professional firefighters repeatedly study, drill and prepare to handle a vast number of threats to public safety. They are certified as emergency medical technicians and paramedics, trained to handle and counter hazardous substances and are qualified to conduct search and rescue while buildings are engulfed in flames.” Notwithstanding that, we can hardly afford a paid fire department in my Town, Bedford NY. Taxes are already high enough, as we have not lost anyone yet because we are volunteers and not professionals.
