The Volunteer Firefighter
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September/October 2017 vol. 70 issue 2 2017 FASNY ALSO INSIDE: 2017 FASNY Award Winners CONVENTION ‘All Hands’ Needed for Cancer Study HIGHLIGHTS 9/11 Revisited Testimonial Dinner Honoring FASNY Director Brian F. McQueen Saturday, October 7, 2017 Hart’s Hill Inn, 135 Clinton Street, Whitesboro, NY 6:00-10:00 p.m. Cocktails with one-hour open bar begin at 6:00 p.m. Dinner at 7:00 p.m. Cash bar 7:00-9:00 p.m. Dress code is business casual. $50 per person Make checks payable to: Whitesboro Fire Department 171 Oriskany Blvd., Whitesboro, NY 13492 Please include the number of tickets, your name(s), address and fire organization as well as a note whether a presentation will be made. Donations to the Believe 271 Foundation are also welcome! For more information, please contact Kevin Lansing at (315) 200-5842 or [email protected] Testimonial Dinner Honoring Thomas McKinney Saturday, October 28, 2017 At West Glens Falls Fire Station 1 33 Luzerne Road, Queensbury, New York 12804 Dinner, dancing, prizes, fun and first two drinks on the house for guests who come in costume. Cocktails and appetizers from 5:00-6:00 p.m., buffet served at 6:00 p.m. Cost is $40 per person. Make checks payable to Donna Engle/McKinney Testimonial and send to: Donna Engle 52 Lake Ave. Warrensburg, NY 12885 For more information, please visit www.facebook.com/McKinneyTestimonial 2 The Volunteer Firefighter www.fasny.com CONTENTS SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2017 Features 28 ‘All Hands’ Needed to Combat Cancer in Volunteer Firefighters: The FASNY-Northwell Health Firefighter Cancer Study By Dr. Jacqueline Moline 32 84th Annual FASNY Legislative Conference 34 9/11 Revisited By Charles Angione 44 FASNY Training and Education Calendar By Jay Wilson 47 Hunters and Ammunition 12 COVER STORY By Michael Capoziello 2017 FASNY Convention Highlights 48 Our Home in Hudson By Art Proper 52 A Century of Leadership By Steve Grogan 54 Firefighters Await Law to Help Them Battle Cancer 2017 FASNY By Paul Brooks Award Recipients 58 He Was Always Doing the Right Thing ... Especially When No One Was Looking By Billy Goldfeder 22 60 Drive to Survive, Part 5: Converting Miles Per Hour to Feet Per Second FASNY Museum of By Chris Daly Firefighting Columbia County: Columns Filled with 5 President’s Message Firematic History! Jamie Smith Quinn 7 Inside Training and Education 38 7 Moving FASNY Forward 8 Membership Corner 8 The Albany Update 9 The Rekindled Spirit At Home with ... 10 Letters to FASNY Billy Rosenhagen 64 LAFASNY By Gina Salvato Shultis 65 Sectionals 74 New Members 50 75 50- and 100-Year Certificates www.fasny.com The Volunteer Firefighter 3 ® September/October 2017 vol. 70 issue 2 FASNY Office 107 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY 12210 phone (800) 2FASNY2 (800) 232-7692 fax (518) 426-0139 www.fasny.com [email protected] Senior Editor Shane M. Liebler Media Communications Work Group John S. D’Alessandro, Chairman Print Project Manager Edward Tase, Jr. Webmaster Brian F. McQueen Members Lacy Florentino-Consolini Kenneth Pienkowski David A. Quinn Gina Salvato Shultis Jay Wilson FASNY President Kenneth Pienkowski www.fasny.com • Editorial deadline is the 5th of the month preceding each issue • For advertising requests, contact Gina Salvato Shultis at (800) 232-7692 or visit www.thevolunteerfirefighter.com • Address all editorial content to: The Volunteer Firefighter™ ABC Creative Group 430 East Genesee Street, Suite 401 Syracuse, NY 13202 phone (800) 293-1002 fax (315) 471-2240 [email protected] • For address changes or FASNY membership questions, please call (800) 2FASNY2 Designed by www.abcideabased.com The Volunteer Firefighter® ISSN 1534-9535 is published bi-monthly by the Firemen’s Association of the State of New York, 107 Washington Avenue, Albany, New York 12210. Periodicals postage is paid at Albany, NY, and at additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send all address changes to: FASNY, 107 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY 12210. The Volunteer Firefighter® is the official journal of the Firemen’s Association of the State of New York, a not for profit organization, and carries news and announcements concerning FASNY. Subscription rate is $20 annually. FASNY members receive this magazine as part of their dues. FASNY is not responsible for contents or opinions other than Association activities. Entire contents are ©2017 Firemen’s Association of the State of New York, all rights reserved and, as such, may not be reproduced in part or in whole without written permission of FASNY. FASNY reserves the right to print portions or all of any correspondence received by the editors without liability on its part and no such correspondence will be returned without prior agreement. Home delivery of The Volunteer Firefighter® is one of the many benefits of FASNY membership. 4 The Volunteer Firefighter www.fasny.com President’s Message Kenneth Pienkowski – President For 145 years, the Firemen’s Association of the State of New York Another important area for FASNY is legislative action. This past has pursued a straightforward, but very important, mission: “To legislative session, through the hard work of Albany Strategic Ad- maintain, support and serve the volunteer fire service of New York, visors (ASA), the FASNY Legislative Committee, CAO David A. and promote and protect the public they serve through education, Quinn and Secretary John S. D’Alessandro along with the support legislation, communication, recruitment and retention, recognition and assistance of the other state organizations, the presumptive can- and community service. To promote a haven at the FASNY Firemen’s cer legislation passed both Houses of the legislature. We must now Home for our volunteer firefighters.” wait for Governor Andrew Cuomo to call for the bill and sign it into Over the past year, it has truly been an honor to represent this great law. organization across the State. In my acceptance speech one year ago, But, rest assured, we are not just sitting and waiting. We are all I pledged to you, the FASNY membership, that we would continue working to make sure that when the Governor calls for the bill, he to grow FASNY’s reputation as the premier volunteer firefighter -as has the answers to any questions that may come up so that he un- sociation in the nation! Along with First Vice President Steven E. derstands beyond any doubt the importance of this bill to volunteer Klein, Second Vice President John P. Farrell, Jr., our dedicated Board firefighters. So, now I have a simple question for you: Have you done of Directors and our exceptionally talented staff we have done that your part? and so much more. Have you taken five minutes of your time to fill out the Engage But, we cannot do this alone. At the core of any great organization email, call his office and sign one of the letters at the information is an energized and involved membership. For us to serve you, and table at Convention? We cannot do this alone. We need the support the volunteer fire service better, we need you to be involved. We need of every FASNY member, every volunteer firefighter and their fam- to know what you are thinking. We need to know what we are doing ily members. right and perhaps, most importantly, we need your input to be able There are over 100,000 volunteers in New York. There is no reason to do things better. that we should not have at least 10,000 people contact the Governor As part of our core mission, FASNY continues to provide educa- on this critical issue. Unfortunately, right now we have only about 10 tional seminars throughout the year and at the annual Convention. percent of that number. Several years ago, this Association realized that recruitment and re- The volunteer fire service and families need to be stronger than tention issues are challenges that we must face head-on. The response ever and be heard to get this legislation signed into law. You can to these challenges is a 365-day responsibility and not just one week- go to www.fasny.com to fill out the Engage email and have it sent end during the year. directly to the Governor. You owe it to yourself, your brother and Despite the significant gains we have made, there are far too many sister firefighters and the firefighters who have yet to come to invest departments across the State that still struggle with obtaining new five minutes of your time to protect them as they protect the citizens members. Lack of industry with three-shift operations, both family of New York. members working full time or holding dual jobs, lack of development Unfortunately, having presumptive cancer coverage only helps in many communities where there are no or very few new residents, minimize the impact after tragedy hits. FASNY is equally com- and our younger generation leaving their communities in pursuit of mitted to minimizing the number of firefighters who fall prey to education or jobs are all barriers to volunteering. this terrible disease. Toward this goal, FASNY will continue to of- In light of all this, what is the volunteer fire service going to face in fer training classes at your fire station with information about how coming years? Should we even be concerned today? The answer is your firefighters can take care of themselves, their turnout gear and that we absolutely must. equipment to better protect themselves. This class is free and is pre- While I wish we could look into a crystal ball to find solutions to sented by Chief Brian F. McQueen, who is retiring after serving on these challenges, that is simply not reality. The reality is that we must the FASNY Board of Directors for the past 11 years.