Stewart AFB Firefighters

[hudson144 150]

For years now the Firefighters at Stewart have provided a service to both the civilian and military communities too include Firefighting,EMS,Fire Inspections etc. When you read the job specs to work there many Fire Dept related courses or levels are in place to be employed as a "FIREFIGHTER" at Stewart ANGB. It boggles my mind that NYS still does not recognize these dedicated "FIREFIGHTERS" and classify them as DMNA workers. The trucks they drive have the words FIRE DEPARTMENT, the uniforms they wear have the words FIRE DEPARTMENT, the building that the FIRETRUCKS are housed in is known as the FIRE STATION. The Union who represents them (CSEA) IMO doesn't recognize them either. As a person who is just shy of 20 yrs serving in the USAF FD I am very much aware of the qualifications that many of theses members have and still wonder why the hell theyare not recognized as FIREFIGHTERS. To achieve certain ranks in the civilain FD at Stewart GUIDELINES are in place which by the way are almost identical to the United States Air Force Fire Protection Specialists job description. How is it that I can serve 1 weekend a month and 2 weeks out of the year at the same location as the civilain members and have the classification as a Firefighter? God forbid if one of these guys ever gets hurt or killed in the line of duty either on or off of the base the coverage would be minimal. Because of the wrong classification they don't qualify for the Heart/lung bill also. Somebody needs to open their eyes here and give these members the classification as a Firefighter and give them the benefits they deserve!

[Guest alsfirefighter]

Way to point out a significant issue brother. I actually never knew they didn't have the classification and I thought they fell under similiar circumstances as many federal FD's who are represented by unions although firefighters, other then the IAFF. Why don't they look at trying to switch to the IAFF to assist with their ventures of classification change? Or if too small try to piggy back on their neighboring departments local in some way? That's just flat out BS.

[ex-commish 490]

As long as they are represented by CSEA I don't see them getting what they deserve.

[nysff 18]

They are classified by DMNA as Airport Firefighter. They just recently had job postings for 3 air guard facilities and that is what the announcement titled them as. The primary mission is ARFF in the event of a crash. The secondary mission is structural protection and EMS first response. It is unfortunate that they along with the members of OFPC do not get the same protections of 207A or the union representation that others get.

[hudson144 150]

At one point they did look into the IAFF with no success, if I am not mistaken they are together with some bases upstate and the unit on Long Island.