Westchester Offers Tuition Program to Increase Volunteer Fire, EMS Ranks

It’s no secret that volunteer fire departments and ambulance corps face significant challenges in attracting new members to bolster their ranks.

Now, Westchester County has introduced a new incentive to entice community members, particularly young adults, to serve their communities and address a shortage of volunteers that has reached crisis proportions.

County Executive George Latimer announced Thursday the Higher Education Recruitment and Retention Opportunity (HERRO) program, which would provide up to $6,000 a year in higher education tuition or student loan payments for active members of a volunteer fire department or EMS service.

“Our initiative today is we’re trying to show that we’re thinking outside of the box and to see if we can come up with ways that will attract young people to become part of this lifesaving mission where people’s lives do hang in the balance with the kind of emergency services that can respond when these crises hit,” Latimer said during a trip to the Armonk Fire Department stationhouse to publicize the new effort.

The program requires eligible candidates to have been active for at least a year, maintain acceptable volunteer and training levels and have their participation verified by a leader of the department they serve. Recipients would be required to maintain a minimum 2.0 grade point average.

Late last year, Westchester County approved $500,000 in the 2022 budget to fund the pilot program.

County Department of Emergency Services Commissioner Richard Wishnie credited Susan Spear, his department’s deputy commissioner, with proposing the program after they brainstormed ideas with Latimer to address the volunteer emergency service shortage.

“(It) is really going to make a difference in the number of volunteers that step up to the plate and stay with the services,” Wishnie said. “That’s the key, sign them up and retain them. We need desperately to have these volunteers serve their communities.”

Money awarded would go toward tuition or student loan payments for undergraduate or graduate school, trade school and certain types of training programs, Spear added.

In recent years it has been increasingly difficult to recruit and retain members, which threatens to dramatically escalate taxes for homeowners if departments are unable to have an adequate number of members respond to calls. In that event, municipalities might have to consider professional firefighters or EMTs.

Chappaqua Volunteer Ambulance Corps Captain Kate Clough said the pandemic has hastened the predicament as many existing members cut back service for health reasons. As a result, mutual aid calls departments have responded to emergencies in other communities with greater frequency when there haven’t been enough personnel locally to respond.

“We have a healthy youth corps program (in Chappaqua) with about 20 high school students who ride with us,” Clough said. “Some come back to ride with us after school but they generally have to move away for work. Some of these corps (members) are in EMT schools and this will help encourage them to stay on through college.”

Armonk Fire Chief Carlos Cano, whose department has about 60 members, said high school students initially join but there is little incentive once they begin college. This program could help encourage them to continue their service when they return.

“A program like this will definitely help them to be able to stay longer and help out in the community,” Cano said.

One member of Mount Kisco’s Independent Fire Co., Madelyn Contreras, said she joined while attending Fox Lane High School. Currently, in her sophomore year at St. John’s where she is studying homeland security and cybersecurity, Contreras was motivated to join after a boiler accident about eight years ago in her family’s home knocked her, her cousin and her grandmother unconscious from carbon monoxide fumes.

For nearly four years, Contreras has been volunteering for the company that saved their lives and continues to serve while attending school full time and holding two part-time jobs.

A $6,000 incentive would pay for nearly half of her annual tuition, she said.

“The generosity of a program like this would allow me to continue my education at St. John’s University,” Contreras said. “It would also continue to positively impact my future and help alleviate educational expenses without limiting my capabilities to volunteer my service to my community. I cannot express the gratitude that a program like this will bring to Westchester County’s first responder community.”

County Legislator Margaret Cunzio (C-Mount Pleasant) said she hopes that the county will be able to make the HERRO program permanent and increase funding for it over time. She said it will help not only those in school but others who have completed their education and are paying off loans.

“What better way to say thank you to those who are giving freely of their time to help protect the community than with this program,” Cunzio said.

The deadline to submit applications is June 3. For more information about the program and to submit an application, visit www.westchestergov.com/herro.