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AFD seeking willing trainees

• The Albany Fire Department is recruiting full-time and volunteer firefighters.

Carlton Fletcher

ALBANY — When officials with the Albany Fire Department say they’re looking for a few good trainees, they’re not just borrowing a slogan. To wit:

“Last year, we had $4 million in fire damage losses,” Fire Chief James Carswell said. “The property where that loss occurred is valued at $349 million. Imagine if we’d had even a 10 percent loss ... You’re talking about $35 million.

“We take this job personally. Our people consider it a failure if a fire they’re fighting gets out of its room of origin. We value what we do; if we’re going to just stand around and spray water on a neighbor’s yard, we might as well stay at the office.”

With that in mind, Carswell and AFD Training Chief Ron Rowe met with members of the media Monday in an attempt to get out the word that their department is looking for full-time firefighters, as well as volunteers to shore up a unit that will complement the department’s work.

“We have eight full-time vacancies right now,” Rowe said. “We’re looking for the right kind of people to fill those spots, and there is no limit to the number of volunteers we’d like to get involved.”

The Albany Fire Department recently filled nine full-time positions, but the eight new vacancies are an indication of the difficulty of keeping dedicated firefighters on the force.

“A lot of people look at firefighting as an adrenaline-rush type situation, but sometimes the reality of the job doesn’t fit what those people had in mind,” Rowe said. “There is desk work; the stations are living quarters for our crew, so we’re responsible for the upkeep. ... It’s a different environment from what they expected.

“A lot of people think there’s not much of a work load, but our people put in at least eight to 12 hours every day. We check equipment every morning — we can’t afford to make a mistake there — and there are at least three hours of school a day. We have drills, state-required recertification. ... Everyone’s constantly on the move.”

The days of sitting around waiting for a fire are long gone, according to Carswell.

“This is not your grandfather’s or even your father’s fire department,” he said. “We are constantly training on new equipment, and there are so many more things that we do that doesn’t involve fighting fires.

“We now deal with HAZMATs (hazardous materials), search and rescue, vehicle extrication, water rescue; we have situations where we take computers and microscopes onto sites to set up mobile labs. Plus we’ve been available to provide aid to surrounding communities in the region. It’s so much more than fighting fires.”

The call for volunteer firefighters, under the direction of Training Officer Frank Flanigan, is of particular importance to fire department officials. Not only will the increase in manpower help in the event of emergencies, it will help the department in its quest to improve its Insurance Services Organization rating.

The Albany department’s current 3 rating puts it among the top 5 percent of firefighting units’ insurance ratings in the country. But Carswell wants to lower that number.

“We’re shooting for a 1,” he said. “Then we’ll be in the top .05 percent in the nation. ISO’s ratings are based on a number of factors, and 50 percent of them are in our direct control.

“We average three people per piece of equipment, and ISO says five is ideal. We could add 45 more people at a cost of $2 1/2 million, but that’s really not practical. For every four volunteers we have, we get one full credit. So we want to find as many volunteers as we can who want to give back to the community. They can do things that we — because we’re publicly funded — can’t do.”

AFD currently has 212 budgeted positions, 172 of which are with the fire department.

Even with their call for personnel, the fire department leaders warn that the job is not for everyone. In addition to rigorous physical and educational requirements, the element of danger is ever-present.

“The Harvard Medical Journal is quoted as saying firefighters are 400 times more likely to have a death on the job than any other profession,” Rowe said. “There are the dangers that go with the job, but firefighters are also subject to heart attacks.

“When that bell rings, we go from zero to 100 in an instant ... and I’m not talking about miles per hour. The adrenaline rush can be overwhelming; it’s a tremendous load on the heart.”

For the veterans on the force, though, that’s just part of what they signed on for when they took the job. And for people who think they have what it takes to be a part of the force, APD can use a few extra hands.

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