Over the past month, torrential storms and extreme weather have devastated Lewis County. Without the support of our volunteer fire departments across the county, the devastation could have been exponentially worse. This is a prime example of the importance of volunteer fire departments in our counties and the issues that could emerge from the new OSHA proposals that would most likely close these departments.

The new, proposed OSHA proposals, known as the “Emergency Response” standards, would require new emergency response plans, hazard vulnerability assessments, training, personal protective equipment, medical screenings and behavioral health services. This is something our volunteer fire departments do not have the budget to enact. If these regulations had been put into place before this past week of treacherous storms, Lewis County would have been completely defenseless. While this storm caused devastation, it showed our counties need volunteer fire departments.

The crux of this issue lies in the fact that New York state lumps career and volunteer fire departments into the same group. In this group, all departments need to complete OSHA’s training requirements as well as follow all OSHA regulations. In large, well-established fire departments in cities, this is not an issue. However, in our district, we have small communities that rely on volunteer fire departments that cannot afford to fund these costly regulations. There needs to be a differentiation between volunteer and career fire departments in New York so we can keep our communities safe. 

Currently, there is no legislation that differentiates career and volunteer fire departments in New York. This needs to be addressed, and I am not going to stop until we make sure the volunteer fire departments in our district are protected. Our volunteers sacrifice their time, safety and personal income to keep our communities safe, and legislation needs to be pushed that will make sure they can continue to protect our communities without organizations such as OSHA shutting them down. When I arrive back in Albany, I will be working tirelessly to ensure this becomes a reality.