ELMIRA, N.Y. (WETM) – With a decrease in recruitment, FASNY is working on getting more people to join their local volunteer departments.

To help volunteers Governor Kathy Hochul has included some proposals in her budget, one of them includes a 10-million-dollar stipend fund to help with training costs for volunteer firefighters. FASNY says they are on board with this proposal.

“As volunteers we aren’t in the station when a call comes in, we generally are at home, have to go to the station and then go to the scene,” FASNY Secretary John D’Alessandro said.

FASNY also says it would like to see the current $200 income tax credit for volunteer firefighters increase in the final state budget.

“We are often spending our own gas money, often times in many departments, the sad reality is we buy our own equipment…so anything like that, a training stipend fund, reimbursement for expenses, in the pursuit of being a volunteer…those type of things are real incentives,” D’Alessandro said.