Volunteer with your fire company

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The Speigletown District Volunteer Fire Company answered 332 calls in 2023 — all with volunteers. Neighbors keep this working by joining. You don't need any firefighting background: the district pays for training and provides your gear, and there are roles for every ability, from interior firefighting to fire police, drivers, EMS support, and the administrative side.

Who can join

The most common reasons people talk themselves out of applying aren't actually disqualifying. From the statewide RecruitNY campaign's FAQ:

• There's no maximum age. If you can meet the medical requirements for the role you're applying for, your application will be considered. (Minimum ages vary by department, generally 16 to 18.)
• No experience required. Most volunteer firefighters and EMS providers come in with none. Your department and local training centers provide all the training.
• "Firefighter" isn't the only role. If interior firefighting isn't a fit — medically or otherwise — the department needs exterior firefighters, drivers, fire police, EMS providers, and support members. Each role has its own physical and medical criteria.
• Your safety is the department's cost, not yours. The department provides the protective equipment you need at no cost to you, and volunteers carry insurance coverage similar to workers' compensation for duty-related injury or illness — with no out-of-pocket cost to the firefighter.

What you get for serving

• A pension-like service award (LOSAP). The district sponsors a Length of Service Awards Program — funded at $72,000 in the 2026 district budget and administered by VFIS — that works like a small pension for volunteers: earn a year of credit each year you're active, and at entitlement age it pays a monthly benefit for life, up to $600 a month based on your years of service. Details below.
• Free training, from zero. State-certified firefighting and rescue courses at no cost — company members logged 857 hours of formal training classes in 2023 alone. The skills (EMS, incident command, equipment operation) travel well into any career.
• Gear provided. Turnout gear, equipment, and radios belong to the district — you're outfitted, not out of pocket.
• Insurance protection. Volunteers are covered under New York's Volunteer Firefighters' Benefit Law — workers'-compensation-style coverage for injuries in the line of duty.
• A New York State income-tax credit is available to active volunteer firefighters (and there may be local property-tax exemptions) — ask your tax preparer about the current amounts.
• The part that's hard to price: real skills, real fitness, a seat in a tight-knit company, and the standing that comes with being one of the neighbors everyone's glad to see pull up.

How the LOSAP service award works

LOSAP is set by state law (General Municipal Law §217). The idea is simple: earn at least 50 points in a calendar year, and that year counts as a year of firefighting service toward your award. Points come from the everyday life of the company:

A realistic year — most drills, the meetings, and your share of calls — clears 50 points comfortably. The law also protects you: military service credits a full 50 points per year, and a line-of-duty disability earns 5 points per month while it lasts.

• Eligibility: age 18+, after one year of firefighting service (sponsors may set it younger/shorter).
• Vesting: your award becomes 100% yours at 5 years of credited service (or at entitlement age, whichever comes first).
• The benefit: a monthly payment for life beginning at the program's entitlement age, sized by your years of service — up to 40 years can count, and under the district's program the benefit runs up to $600 a month. Death and disability benefits are part of the program by law, and all program assets are held in trust for participants.

One more thing worth knowing: 50 points is the only requirement for the LOSAP credit. A company's by-laws may set their own membership standards (and the company can discipline or drop members under them), but under state law they can't be used to deny a service-award year to a volunteer who earned 50 points — a point the State Comptroller's auditors have made explicitly: "once an active member earns a minimum of 50 points within a calendar year, service award credit should be awarded to that member for the year."

Figures describe the district's program as currently offered; the plan document governs. State law caps defined-contribution LOSAPs at $1,200 a year, and the IRS limit on the annual benefit value is $8,000 for 2026. Program point records are certified by the company and approved by the Board of Fire Commissioners, with an appeal right if you believe your points were miscounted. See GML §217 and the State Comptroller's LOSAP guidance (including its 2010 Armor Volunteer Fire Company audit, the source of the quote above) for the full rules.

What's actually expected

• Make training and drills a habit — Thursday nights at 7 PM are the rhythm of the company.
• Answer your share of calls. About 10% of the year's calls keeps your LOSAP call credit — the company averaged 332 calls recently, so that's roughly 3 calls a month, day or night, as your life allows.
• New members are approved by the Board of Fire Commissioners, and you'll train before you ride. Nobody is thrown into a fire on week one.

Questions first? Stop by on a Thursday night, call the firehouse at 518-235-5431, or read about the company and district and the rigs you'd train on.