Post, left, speaks; Gibb (and citizen behind him) listen intently

EAST FISHKILL – State Emergency Services Office officials came to East Fishkill with a Republican Assembly committee Tuesday evening in hopes of learning what the local volunteer services members want from the state. They got an earful.

East Fishkill Fire Chief Scott Post had a number of concerns. “Unfortunately, a lot of the things that were discussed was all stuff that has been discussed over the years and we’re still at square one,” he said. “This gave me the opportunity and the proper forum to say, ‘look, we need to look at this at a different perspective.”

And those issues included state mandated training, health benefits and tax benefits for being a volunteer.

SEMO Director John Gibb was all ears. “I think it is incumbent on the state agencies, and we work very closely with our State Office of Homeland Security, the State Office of Fire Prevention Control, to continually look at what are the services we’re providing to the fire service, what are the gaps, how do we improve it, focus resources.”

There are apparent differences between upstate volunteer firefighter services and those provided to New York City paid firefighters. Assemblyman Marc Molinaro said he wants to invite his downstate Democratic colleagues to visit his rural district to see how the volunteer service operates.