{"id":111037,"date":"2020-02-12T10:56:42","date_gmt":"2020-02-12T15:56:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=111037"},"modified":"2020-02-12T10:56:42","modified_gmt":"2020-02-12T15:56:42","slug":"stirpe-volunteer-firefighters-and-emergency-responders-go-above-and-beyond-to-protect-our-communities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=111037","title":{"rendered":"Stirpe: Volunteer firefighters and emergency responders go above and beyond to protect our communities"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Assemblyman Al Stirpe<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The selfless men and\nwomen who put their own lives on the line to protect ours are truly unsung\nheroes. Volunteer firefighters and emergency responders sacrifice their time\nand safety to serve the communities we call home, and do so out of their own\nsense of duty. Those who serve often have families, jobs and other obligations,\nyet are still always ready to help when an emergency strikes throughout the day\nor night. It\u2019s a role that requires the utmost bravery and dedication, and our\nloved ones and neighbors who make this commitment deserve our full respect and\nsupport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the\nNational Volunteer Fire Council, 65% of firefighters in the United States are\nvolunteers. Our communities rely on these individuals to be the first line of\ndefense in an emergency situation, such as fires, medical incidents, natural\ndisasters and water rescue emergencies, among many others.[1]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve been working hard\nto ensure volunteer firefighters and emergency responders are given the\nprotections they deserve. To keep our firefighters safe in the line of duty, I\nco-sponsored a bill firefighters strongly support to prohibit the use of\nchemical flame retardants on residential upholstered furniture, which when\nburned in a house fire produces dangerous byproducts that can harm responding\nfirefighters (A.6260-A). I also co-sponsored legislation that would ensure\nthose who knowingly alter or convert a building in a way that endangers and\ninjures a firefighter are held accountable (A.1797).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Far too often, fire\ndepartments are forced to stop providing critical services to the communities\nthey serve, such as ambulance services, due to financial constraints. This is\nlargely because our state is the only state in the union to prohibit fire\ndepartments from recovering any costs for emergency medical services. This is\nunacceptable and hinders our departments\u2019 ability to do their job, which is why\nI\u2019m fighting for legislation that would right this wrong by offering\ndepartments the option to recuperate costs for this noble service (A.1778-A). Additionally,\nI co-sponsored a bill to increase the benefits given to volunteers who sustain\na disability while in the line of duty (A.5895). These benefits have not been\nupdated in over 10 years, so increasing this coverage is necessary and long\noverdue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A major problem that\nfire departments across the nation are facing, including right here in New\nYork, is a severe shortage of volunteers. The number of volunteer firefighters\nin the United States reached a historic low in 2019, while the call volume\ncontinues to steadily increase.[2]<\/sup><\/a> Twenty years\nago, there were approximately 120,000 volunteers in New York \u2013 in 2019, there\nwere fewer than 100,000.[3]<\/sup><\/a> This has\ncaused many fire departments to close their doors, which poses a serious safety\nissue for many communities, including those in Central New York.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To combat this growing\nproblem, I helped pass a law to increase the maximum contribution under a\nlength of service award program (LOSAP) to $1,200 for volunteer firefighters\nand volunteer ambulance workers (Ch. 474 of 2019). LOSAPs are pension-like\nprograms intended to help recruit, retain and reward volunteers for their\nservice to the community, and this increase will help provide local departments\nwith the tools they need to address this shortage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While I\u2019ll continue\ndoing everything I can to combat this ongoing issue, I encourage everyone to\nget involved with their local fire department, whether it\u2019s working in an\nadministrative role, driving department vehicles or even becoming a volunteer\nfirefighter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We owe a great debt to\nthe volunteer firefighters and emergency responders who work every day to keep\nour Central New York communities safe. It\u2019s because of their courage and\nwillingness to serve that we can rest assured that our call for help will\nalways be answered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As always, my door is\nopen. If you have questions or concerns about this or any other community\nissue, reach out to my office at 315-452-1115 or StirpeA@nyassembly.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The selfless men and women who put their own lives on the line to protect ours are truly unsung heroes. Volunteer firefighters and emergency responders sacrifice their time and safety to serve the communities we call home, and do so out of their own sense of duty. Those who serve often have families, jobs and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43068,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[32,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-111037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","category-top-story"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p43meu-sSV","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/madisoncountycourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Al-Stirpe.jpg?fit=226%2C222&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=111037"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111037\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/43068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=111037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=111037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=111037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}