Fire departments across the Five Towns are looking for dedicated residents willing to volunteer their time as firefighters and emergency medical technicians. Departments across the state have faced struggles with recruiting and retaining volunteers in recent years for numerous reasons.
The Firemen’s Association of the State of New York (FASNY) coordinated its annual ‘RecruitNY’ campaign on April 26-27, as volunteer fire departments across the state opened their doors to recruit new members. “Recruit NY has proven a success in past years and is a key initiative to help bolster membership numbers, so fire departments can continue to provide the optimum level of protection to their local residents,” said FASNY President James Burns. More than 600 departments participated in last year’s campaign, now in its fourth year, according to FASNY.
The Woodmere Fire Department is always looking for dedicated volunteers, according to Chief Lenny Cherson. “Everybody is welcome to join and serve the community,” he said. The department utilizes various methods to recruit new members throughout the year, including its bi-annual fund mailing drive, advertisements, as well as signs on telephone poles outside of local schools, houses of worship and the business district. The department participated in the ‘RecruitNY’ campaign on April 27, but Cherson noted that the event is “mainly for smaller departments upstate, north of Orange County,” which cover a larger area in terms of land.
The department provides fire, rescue and emergency medical services to residents of the unincorporated communities of Woodmere and Cedar Bay Park, as well as the incorporated villages of Woodsburgh, Hewlett Neck and portions of Hewlett Harbor. It also provides mutual aid...
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...efighter and I think its a necessity for our community,” said Jason Hagler, a Woodmere firefighter for more than six years. Hagler also owns Woodmere-based Rapid Motion Technology, a low-voltage contractor and security system installation company, and balances his business with volunteering. “It’s a tremendous struggle, but its an important cause to the community and I make it work,” Hagler said. “There’s a tremendous need in our community for volunteer firefighters and EMTs,” he added, encouraging prospective members to join.
Woodmere resident Ariel Pfeifer, 17, intends on joining the Woodmere Fire Department this summer as a firefighter. The Woodmere resident has been a junior firefighter with the department for a year, which exposed him to the volunteer fire service. “I’ve always wanted to be a firefighter because I want to help serve my community,” he said.
An effective mission statement at a fire department can be incredibly influential on the morale of the personnel—which as a result, can dramatically improve the performance of personnel when put into practice. Furthermore, because of the importance of a fire department’s mission statement, there should be a considerable amount of thought put into the drafting of one; and one of the most vital parts of an effective mission statement is to make sure that it can be put into practice. With that being said, the mission statement at my fire department is “One Team, One Group, One Fight”.
So you are a new recruit/rookie/probies. Well then congrats on your achievement of completing the fire academy training. Remember everyone was once in your shoes. When you are hired on to a department. The people of that department, you could be serving with for maybe 10 or more years. To help prepare you for your career in the fire service here is ten thing you must know.
Virtually everywhere in the United States is affected to one degree of another by wildland fires. Even if a community is not directly involved with the fire itself, chances are that some of its members have gone to help fight wildland fires in other areas of the country by providing manpower, financial support, or other humanitarian aid.
The duties and responsibilities of the fire department are most importantly responding to fires and other emergencies that involve the assistance from the department such as vehicle accidents, flooding, emergency rescue, and first aid response. When it comes to a fire departments duties and responsibilities when it comes to mutual aid agreements it is to coordinate planning, multiply the response resources available to any one jurisdiction, ensure timely arrival of aid, arrange for specialized resources, and minimize administrative conflict and litigation post-response.
Firefighters are more than friends. You can't fight fires with friends. To fight fires you need a brotherhood. The men and women of the fire service across the globe consider each other family, this is one of the grand traditions of the fire department. Firefighters are constantly looking out for one another, thinking about the things they do and how it may affect the other’s lives and safety. Life safety is of the highest priority in the business of fire rescue. To achieve a safety standard there are many tasks that fire personnel are expected to carry out, for both a personal and a team related purpose. One of these tasks is the daily inspection of the fire apparatus upon arrival to the fire station. This task is with most certainty the most essential process that fire personnel are responsible for in order to get through the shift safely and efficiently.
This station is staffed with three people on a rotating 48/96 schedule. Station 1 is equipped with a Quint, Water Tender, Swift Water Rescue/USAR trailer, and a Light and Air utility truck with a trailer. I learned that unlike large departments the firefighters of this department wear many hats from the writing of their own SOPs to the specifications of new equipment being ordered. Many decisions made are done so through a committee of firefighters who work together to identify things the department needs and how to improve the
Communities must come together in order to be aware of the steps that must be taken to reduce or prevent risk. “The guidance, programs, processes, and systems that support each component of the National Preparedness System enable a collaborative, whole community approach to national preparedness that engages individuals, families, communities, private and nonprofit sectors, faith based organizations and all levels of government.” (FEMA, 2011). Resources within a community are prioritized and customized based on community-based issues and local security programs. The resources used as the front line of defense are first responders, such as police officers, firefighters and medical personnel. The resources are provided and prioritized based on the priority of threat and risks to a specific community. Therefore, the threats and risks targeted towards a community must be analyzed and acknowledged in order to apply the correct resources to the opposing prioritized threats. Disasters and emergencies typically begin at the local level and eventually require resources from state and federal
Founders of the organization, Frank Shankwitz and Scott Stahl, had not originally set out to begin what today is one of America’s biggest non-profit organizations. They were merely trying to fulfill the wish of their close friends dying son, Chris. Chris who was 7 years old had been diagnosed with leukemia and had always wished to be a police officer. Frank Shankwitz and Scott Stahl gathered the funds and support they needed in giving Chris a day he would never forget. Chris spent his day as a police officer. He received a customized police uniform, a badge, which once belonged to a retired lieutenant and became Arizona’s first and only honorary DPS officer. As word spread, more and more people wanted to take part in bring forth a smile to a dyin...
Sargent, C. (2006). From buddy to boss: effective fire service leadership (p. 153). Tulsa, OK: Penwell Corp.
As an employee of The New York City Fire Department, it is our duty to know its mission state and what its internal core analysis consists off. “As first responders to fires, public safety and medical emergencies, disasters and terrorist acts, the FDNY protects the lives and property of New York City residents and visitors. The Department advances public safety through its fire prevention, investigation and education programs. The timely delivery of these services enables the FDNY to make significant contributions to the safety of New York City and homeland security efforts. The New York City Fire Department’s internal core analysis consists of: Service: the department continues its unwavering call to protect and serve. Bravery: courage is the foundation of each character. Bravery is the ability to overcome fear through fortitude, instinct, compassion for others and training. Safety: our citizens must be reasonably free from danger, especially deliberate, harmful acts. With the best equipment and training, the department can reduce the risk to the public and its members at fires, emergencies and medical incidents. Honor: the enormous commitment necessary to perform the department’s tasks requires excellence of character. They inspire each other through pride in the unit, which is a belief that every action reflects on all the members of the unit, both past and present. Dedication: a commitment to the objectives to their mission is an essential part of their code of conduct. The faithful observance of duty, calls for the FDNY to fulfill their obligations professionally and honestly. Preparedness: by combining all of the components of their core values, the FDNY will maintain its constant state of readiness to meet all threats and c...
Recruiting officers is a vital job for any city, state, federal department. The people that are recruited could be the next leaders of the department. Most departments try to pull in the most diverse and qualified applicants that are looking to make law enforcement a career. They also look for applicants that have a commitment in severing their community. The recruiters have a bigger pull of people with the unemployment rate going up. There are more people going back to school to study criminal law and are looking for a career in law enforcement. The recruiters look for people that hold knowledge in law, communication skills, self- discipline, and attention to detail. The new recruit should want to stay learning new things by furthering their education in law enforcement. The recruiters must hold a high standard for hiring police officers because of what the community expects from their law enforcement. Most recruiters have to go by the department’s code of ethics that each department has set for their officers. This has made recruiters come up with new ways of trying to recruit officers. Some recruiters have started going after top students out of universities and other schools. Many Departments have come up with hiring incentives for new r...
Since the beginning of the fire service hundreds of years ago, this profession is usually thought of being a male dominate. Since then there has been a large number of females who have been interested and wanting to become a part of this family, as a result of the male domination, a large group has failed due to discrimination from co-workers or management personnel. Furthermore, the laws that have been put into place have helped women become a part of the fire service profession.
Human Resource management (HRM) can be defined and simplified in various ways. One definition is that HRM is to “get the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats” (Collins, 2001). The People theory is a theory in HRM that includes Recruitement and selection- two major subjects in the HRM function which concerns people and their way to a job for them.This essay will treat and discuss these two topics, recruitment and selection and their importance to the HRM function.
Okray, Randy, and Thomas Lubnau. Crew Resource Management for the Fire Service. Tulsa, OK: PennWell, 2004. Print.
Police recruitment is very important to all law enforcement agencies; it seeks to recruit, select, train and maintain the best possible officers (Grant et al, 2012). This paper will give you the reader a general understanding of police recruitment and also discuss some of the problems happening in police recruitment; past and present, along with remedies to these problems.