By Finn Lincoln
syracuse.com
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Volunteer firefighters across the state, including in Onondaga County, are making a push for new state laws to allow volunteers to get paid for their work.
Different ideas are being debated, but the general proposal would allow departments to pay volunteers up to $12,000 a year, said Tony McIntyre, former chief of the North West Fire District, a volunteer department that covers Lysander and Van Buren. That’s about 20% of what a professional firefighter is paid, he said.
| READ NEXT: When serving the community becomes financially impossible
It is necessary to pay volunteers to encourage people to join and stay on a job which can be grueling and time-consuming, McIntyre said. Many feel that paying volunteers would make a big difference, he said.
“We feel this is a last-ditch effort to save volunteer fire services in New York State,” McIntyre said.
Departments for decades have had trouble recruiting volunteers with some departments closing or merging, including half a dozen last year. McIntyre said recruiting has somewhat improved, but retaining active volunteers is a bigger problem.
The number of volunteer firefighters has hit a 40-year low, according to fire officials proposing to pay volunteers.
Statewide, the number of volunteers has fallen from around 120,000 in 2000 to 80,000 this year, according to the Firefighters Association of the State of New York (FASNY).
There are 1,800 volunteer departments in New York state and 50 in Onondaga County, according to FASNY.
Volunteer firefighters from across Onondaga County and the state will host a rally at 11 a.m. Thursday at East Syracuse Station 1 at 204 N. Center St. to show their support for paying volunteers.
On Wednesday, Cicero Fire Chief Jim Perrin Jr ., who is leading the efforts in Onondaga County alongside McIntyre, went to Albany with other volunteers to meet with lawmakers, including Gov. Kathy Hochul, to ask for support on the nominal compensation push.
McIntyre said volunteers in Onondaga County started having serious conversations about the proposal to pay volunteers in September.
At this point, there is no legislation on the table on how paying volunteers would work or be funded.
FASNY, which lobbies for and represents 80,000 volunteer firefighters, has proposed 14 ways to compensate volunteers which the group believes would be more equitable than allowing departments to pay them directly, said John D’Alessandro, secretary for FASNY. The proposals include increased tax credits, more reimbursement for mileage and other working costs, a childcare tax credit or stipend and property tax credits.
Currently, volunteers receive $200 tax credits and can also pay lower property taxes in some jurisdictions, D’Alessandro said. Some departments also have a pension-like program that pays long-time volunteers small amounts annually.
FASNY wants any proposal to pay volunteers to include a state fund that departments with less money could draw from to pay volunteers.
“We can’t leave anyone behind, or public safety is going to suffer,” D’Alessandro said.
FASNY is concerned that volunteers will leave smaller departments with fewer resources to join larger, wealthier districts that can offer more pay, D’Alessandro said. That could also potentially create tension between departments, the group maintains.
D’Alessandro said the bigger departments need to be thinking about the impact on their smaller neighbors when they support this effort. He said larger, wealthier departments are many of the largest proponents.
McIntyre said many firefighters already leave smaller departments for larger ones because most find the larger departments with more resources better to work at.
McIntyre said that paying firefighters wouldn’t be required, but would just be a tool that departments struggling for retention could use.
Three groups working for laws to pay volunteers with McIntyre’s task force are the New York State Association of Fire Chiefs (NYSAFC), the New York State Fire Coordinators’ Association (NYSFCA), and the Association of Fire Districts of the State of New York (AFDSNY). They have not proposed specific legislation, McIntyre said.
McIntyre and D’Alessandro both said volunteer departments are still the way forward.
Professionalizing the entire state would be very expensive and unrealistic, D’Alessandro said.
D’Alessandro and McIntyre emphasized that they want to pass legislation and that their groups will continue to work toward a resolution.
“Let me be clear, we are not anti-FASNY, I am not anti-FASNY,” McIntyre said. “We just want them to come to the table so we can work on this together.”
D’Alessandro emphasized that FASNY is not against paying firefighters more, they just want to do it in a sustainable way.
“There is no silver bullet here,” he said. “There is no magic solution.”
Should volunteer firefighters be paid to help solve recruitment and retention challenges, or would stipends change the tradition of volunteer service?
FireRescue1 readers respond
- Yes volunteer firefighters should be compensated! Whether cash or compensation. Tax credits might be the least costly and easier to do than paying monies. Tax credits would be an indirect method of add money to the pockets of the firefighters.
- We have always paid a per hr stipend here in Ontario for both calls and training. It does help but is still hard to keep firefighters interested and in the ranks.
- Absolutely! Dedicated and professional volunteers are following the path of the dinosaurs. The sustainability of volunteer service continues to erode. It is tragic, but unfortunately, the reality of the service.
- If paid are you still considered a volunteer?
- Unfortunately, volunteerism isn’t pushed like it use to. Unfortunately, not every area can have full-time staff. So yes, states could find a way to give incentives to the volunteers.
- Sure why not, or at least a tax credit. It does cost us our time and money just to volunteer.
- An underused option is firefighter interns, college students who meet the same requirements of their peers who serve in return for free housing. The USFA pays construction costs for the rooms.,Almojera makes valid points. I suggest that he provide examples from jurisdictions that operate EMS independently but with a combined dispatch system. In my jurisdiction, Johnson County (KS) MEDACT rents space at area fire stations. Call takers hand off 911 calls to fire or EMS dispatchers. Each agency submits its own budget.
- No payments, being of service is enough for me.
- This looks like one of many possible paths to a Volunteer Solution. This comes with some positive and negative aspects. The big one being a long-term funding solution that must be flexible enough to accommodate highs and lows in numbers. And over time the increase in the rate. I see it being a big draw initially, slowing with time. The “Test of Time” will tell the success or failure of this option. I also see it increasing the average length of service. As much as the Volunteer Service is part of me and close to my heart, I see recruitment and retention as a very serious problem in the long term. This is not the Silver Bullet to save the volunteer but is one tool. Our Department bills for MVA. Pricing is based upon what expendable we use and a Fire Vehicle rate. If the owner is from our community we do not bill.
- I belong to a small volunteer department in NJ (about 20 active firefighters and officers. We get a small stipend each month based on a minimum response rate per month. It helps retention but is not enough for recruitment. The biggest hindrance to recruiting is the amount of initial training time required to complete Firefighter I school.
- If departments feel the need to compensate firefighters, then they cannot be called “volunteers” anymore. I understand the issues with manpower, it’s everywhere. But when you put money behind it, the term volunteer needs to cease being used. You are being compensated. No disrespect intended, just fact. We had a baby in cardiac arrest. EMS was still 7-10 minutes out. We put the baby with a firefighter still performing CPR and went at an emergency rate to the hospital. There were comments, both negative and positive. Several, including EMS thought we should’ve waited. Our fire chief was not happy with us and was going to discipline several firefighters and an officer. In the end, it was all dropped. Unfortunately, the baby did not survive. It’s fair. Too many times, EMS relies on the FD to either cover these or assist their crew. EMS bills and collects for the call and the FD gets nothing (at least in PA!) There needs to be a better system. Yes they should. Are traumatic events “expected” in our line of work? Absolutely. But that doesn’t make them any less of an issue for our brains. We all process things in different ways. We won’t all see the same calls in our career. Obviously, we can’t know all the details from one article, but a decision at a state supreme court level can be used widely against others. I was an active union officer for many years. The municipality is always looking for issues like this to argue their cases. I’m not saying the union side is always right. But an issue like this can have far reaching impacts. We are supposed to be recognizing mental health issues as true job concerns, not pushing us back to burying them in our minds and not asking for help. I just feel it sets a dangerous precedent. I’m not sure if the NPS should take over, but something has to be done. Those salaries are absolutely ridiculous, especially the percentage of raises in such a short time. $36 a person admission is pretty steep. That’s $144 for a family of four. It needs to be overhauled for sure! Sorry to put those employees in the unemployment line but that $$ is way too much. Yes. People get in the way and are not always doing it with bad intentions. But they can impede your work. There is no 1st Amendment issue here. You can still say what you want, just 25’ away.
- Volunteers should be paid. We get a stipend for drills and calls and if the call is more than an hour, we get so much per hour. We are all volunteers except the chief, he is paid.
- Yes; firefighters should be paid to help solve recruitment and retention challenges. Also yes; stipends would change the tradition of volunteer service. (Does anybody have a better plan?) Staffing recruitment/retention is an issue affecting most (or perhaps all) states, and it’s a very big deal. State-level support could be a problem solver where local communities have limited resources, even though it would be expensive. Consider the alternative — you’re driving with your family across the state, a collision occurs on the road or a fire breaks out at your hotel... There is only a minimal amount of help coming your way, and it is going to take a while to arrive (despite the very best intentions of the dedicated but very few responders who are en route). Yes, this issue is more complex than many people realize. Public safety isn’t easy.
- Truly, doesn’t make a difference we went to pay for service and training about 5 years ago, hasn’t changed helping with recruitment or keeping people active. I have been firefighting for 33 years, continue to volunteer and not take pay, father was volunteer for 25 years and not paid. I believe in giving back to the community, not taking from it.
- Certainly, this is needed. But, at $12,000, you’re a part-time employee, not a volunteer. For the self-employed, getting health care benefits would also help. We would also have to address the redundancy that occurs. Five stations within a 10 square mile area is ridiculous.
©2026 Advance Local Media LLC.
Visit syracuse.com.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
