Democrat and Chronicle
VICTOR, N.Y. — Victor’s Volunteer Fire Department now allows 16-year-olds to apply to work fires alongside the veterans, after the village approved the change in protocol at Monday’s Board of Trustees meeting.
Fire Chief Joseph Murphy said volunteer firefighter numbers have been dwindling over the last few years due to members’ job placement outside the area or inability to meet the department’s time commitment. The department lost about 10 firefighters in the last year alone.
“Many of the current firefighters were junior firefighters when they were young, which allowed them to get training earlier,” said Murphy. A national certification course needed to become a volunteer firefighter calls for over 100 hours of training — a daunting number to careerists interested in volunteer firefighting, but less so to high schoolers.
Full story: Victor allows 16-year-old firefighters