This is part one of a two-part series on how local emergency services are thinking “outside of the box” to solve volunteer shortages.
ELSMERE — Elsmere’s Fire Company is firing up its volunteer firefighter corp with an innovative “Bunk-In” program. College students live rent free in a fire-company owned local apartment in exchange for volunteer firefighter service. Two bunk-in graduates have already signed on for regular duty at the Fire Company, and Delmar-Bethlehem EMS rents units in the building for its own bunk-in program.
Bunk-in programs are a response to a nationwide shortage of firefighters and EMS personnel.
According to a 2019 survey conducted by the New York State Emergency Medical Services Council, 52 percent of agencies with volunteer EMS responders are moderately or severely impacted by volunteer staffing shortages, and 40 percent of agencies surveyed reported that their certified volunteers were down by 11 percent over the last 3 years.
The decline is due, in part, to fewer new volunteers coupled with an increased demand for services.
“We average 350-450 fire incidents annually,” said Fire Company 2d Assistant Chief Frank Wickham. “With more development comes more need for fire services.”
Elsmere Fire Company Bunk-In Program
The bunk-ins benefit the company, the students, and the taxpayers.
“It’s a win-win for everyone,” said Elsmere Fire Chief Mark Futia.
Elsmere’s bunk-in program, spearheaded by Elsmere Fire Company Treasurer and Past President John Murphy.
“It has provided more manpower hours without having to get taxpayer money,” Murphy said.
“The program is extremely prudent for the taxpayer because we do it all by fundraising and donations,” said Elsmere Fire Commissioner Joe Catalano. “The taxpayers never spent money for this.”
The fire company was contemplating how to attract more volunteers to its all-volunteer department when, in 2018, it saw an opportunity in a dilapidated three-unit apartment building on sale right next door to its West Poplar Drive station. In exchange for providing up to 20 hours weekly of fire service, each bunk-in student would get a bedroom in a two-bedroom fully furnished unit rent free for the school year.
Murphy said the Ridge Road apartment building, which the Fire Department bought that year, cost $350,000 and has $208,000 remaining on its 20-year mortgage. The fire company used money raised by company members over the years from conventions and “a lot of fish fries” to buy the building, said Murphy.
“We wouldn’t have searched for a multi-unit building elsewhere, but when it became available we jumped on it because it was right next door to the firehouse,” he said.
Murphy said at the time of purchase, the building was falling into disrepair. Department members put both money and “sweat equity” into it.
“We have a good pool of firefighters who are plumbers, electricians so we do a lot of the work ourselves, and they are passionate about it,” said Catalano.
Wickham said that Lowe’s in Glenmont contributed kitchens and bathrooms worth about $25,000-$30,000. Community contractors also pitched in with service discounts.
According to Murphy, building operating costs for mortgage, water, utilities and cable total about $22,000 annually.
“We do the snow removal and lawn care ourselves,” he said.
To offset those costs, the fire department rented two of the three apartments for $1,300/month to DBEMS for its own bunk-in program.
The company set aside a capital reserve fund for major repairs, and an additional wish list for items like central air conditioning.
“But central air would mean running fish fries from now until kingdom come to pay for it,” said Murphy.
In mid-2019, the first bunk-ins moved in. COVID delayed the program, but it picked up again in 2021 when the fire department re-started accepting applications.
This school year, two students live in a single unit, with a third expected to move into a recently added bedroom in January. Six other students — men and women — have participated in the bunk-in program since its inception. One former bunk-in student is now an Elsmere Fire Company lieutenant and another also joined up.
To join the fire department bunk-in program, an applicant must meet rigorous requirements, including being at least 18 years old, a trained volunteer firefighter, a member of a fire department outside of Albany County and a full-time student in a college in Albany or adjacent county. Upon acceptance, the bunk-in student must provide up to 20 hours of assigned duty service, possibly including weekend duty. During duty hours, a bunk-in student must be awake, in uniform, and perform assigned tasks.
In addition, the bunk-in student must be generally available to respond to fire/emergency calls whether or not on duty, maintain a sufficient GPA to remain enrolled as a full-time student and attend EMT training.
The students save the cost of a dorm room and the company gets multiple benefits in return.
“It gives us young, qualified individuals to support our response during the day when the rest of us are at work,” Murphy said.
In addition, because they live next door to the fire department, “we have people right there ready to go,” Murphy added.
Wickham further explained that the bunk-ins shorten the time it takes to get to a call, which is critical.
“A fire sometimes doubles in 30 seconds,” Wickham explained, “so every minute counts in getting there and now we have people right here.”
“The students are ‘so eager’ and ‘Johnny on the spot,’” said Catalano. “They get right out of bed and are right there. They don’t have to first go to the bathroom like us older firefighters because you don’t know how long a call will be.”
Because the bunk-in students are already trained firefighters with a home fire department, they often bring their personal firefighter gear with them. That gear would otherwise cost the department between $5,000-$6,000. Current Fire Company President Brendan Boyle said it’s a “great symbiotic relationship among our department, their home department and the students.”
Boyle added that the company also learns more about firefighting techniques.
“We are open-minded about how we do firefighting,” he said. “It’s great to have someone else’s point of view because they are coming from another department.
The bunk-ins add value in other ways.
“They integrate themselves into other aspects of fire prevention, social events, memorial services and work details,” said Wickham.
They also serve an important function by volunteering for the fire department’s explorer program that reaches 12-17 year olds and teaches them about fire fighting.
“The explorer kids relate very well to the 18-to-21-year-olds [bunk-ins] and see from them what it means to adhere to a chain of command, to have commitment and seriousness,” Wickham said.
“These kids are focused. They love firefighting and it affords them the opportunity to maintain a connection to the fire service,” said Murphy. “Most of them even do more than the required 20 hours and if an alarm goes off at 2 a.m., they respond.”
Boyle confirmed that there have been no typical college issues with the bunk-ins.
“The quality of people we are bringing in are class A interior firefighters,“ he said. “They have a higher standard for themselves, are great kids with excellent hearts and hard workers.” They even help with the mowing.
Still, Murphy said, “We tell them their school work is their No. 1 priority.” To help the bunk-in students manage their firefighter obligations with school, “we are flexible about which hours they work and also about schedules around exam times,” said Murphy. “We tell them to bring their laptops with them because they are 20 hours in the firehouse.”
DBEMS Bunk-Ins
Like the fire department, DBEMS has seen an increasing number of calls. In 2022, it received 4,318 calls, and answered 1,410 of them with 55 volunteers, totaling 15,000 volunteer responder hours. Unlike the fire department, ambulance services are provided by paid EMTs during the day through a partnership with the Albany County Sheriff’s office EMS unit. However, from 6 p.m -6 a.m., DBEMS relies on volunteers.
DBEMS Executive Director and Chief Steve Kroll said they continually need new volunteers.
“We are looking to increase the number of volunteers so we can increase service to the community,” he said and announced that a third ambulance crew is being added on Mondays.
To recruit more volunteers, DBEMS rented two of the three units in the fire company’s “bunk-in building” to offer the same free rent benefit to college students, but in exchange for emergency medical services.
”It’s really nice that the fire department chose to partner with us,” said Kroll.
DBEMS spends about $30,000 of its $2 million annual budget to pay for the bunk-ins’ rent and utilities. Approximately 75 percent of DBEMS’ budget comes from insurance payments, 20 percent from taxpayer money and five percent community donations. Kroll said that the bunk-in program saves money because it would cost $130,000 to add another crew if volunteers were not available.
DBEMS bunk-in applicants must meet qualifications set by DBEMS. Those requirements include being at least 19 years old, holding and maintaining a New York State EMT certification, attending an area college/university full time, meeting DBEMS drive requirements, having CEVO or EVOC training and committing for the school year and possibly summers.
Once on board, students are required to ride 18 scheduled hours per week in three 12-hour shifts between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. Kroll clarified that did not mean 18 hours in the ambulance. They just have to be available in the ambulance station so they are permitted to sleep or study during the 12 hour shift.
Now in its third year with four bunk-in students, DBEMS has hosted four other bunk-in students.
Kroll reported that there have been no issues with the bunk-in students. ”We have high standards and expect a lot from them and they have all met those standards,” Kroll added.
“Our bunk-in liaison checks in on them regularly to make sure everything is OK,” said Kroll. “The only kind of issue we have had is a leaky pipe.”
Bunk-In Program Is A Success Story at Both Departments
“The program has been extraordinarily well received by everyone in the community,” said Kroll. Kroll described the bunk-in students as “great volunteers who provide exceptional care and bring youth and enthusiasm to our ambulance squad.” And DBEMS, in turn, is “helping prepare people for great careers in health care, helping these talented young people get started and making college more affordable for them.”
“To get their age group in here makes our organization better,” said DBEMS bunk-in program coordinator Lt. Robert Gehrer.
“We have meetings and try to come up with potential negatives, but haven’t so far,” said Murphy. “Instead, we are constantly thinking about ways to add manpower and providing the very best fire protection services to our residents, and we are not afraid of thinking outside of the box.”
Murphy said the only hard part is for “us older fire department members to figure out how to reach out to 17-to-19-year-olds so they can learn about the program.”
“We are learning about social media,” he admitted and noted that the department would love to recruit candidates with more than fire fighting abilities, such as web design, social media and even cooking skills.
Both DBEMS and the Elsmere Fire Company attributed the program’s success to the number of local colleges and universities that provide a large and strong pool of candidates.
Kroll said, “we get plenty of applications because we have more colleges and universities here than the average place and two paramedic programs, with many people coming to the capital region seeking careers in health care.”
Kroll also said that although DBEMS recruits on social media and on college campuses, DBEMS’ best recruiters are its own bunk-in students.
“One of our bunk-in students was the best recruiting tool we ever had, and now a couple of her friends are in the program this year,” he said.
“We will absolutely keep this program,” said Kroll. “We count on these hours to provide care to the community. … If the fire department had another bedroom available, we would rent it.”
As for the fire department, “we look to the day we can have 5-6 firefighters in the [bunk-in] building, which is a full crew,” said Murphy. “I really want to be a dreamer, maybe someday we could have a larger program coordinated throughout the town’s fire departments.”
“I wish this program was available when I was in college. It’s fantastic.” said Boyle.