Automatic Mutual Aid

In an effort to provide maximum fire protection for its residents, the Elsmere Fire District has arranged reciprocal mutual aid agreements with its neighboring departments for an engine company response from the Delmar or Selkirk Fire Districts.





Fire Police

You might have noticed that when the Elsmere Fire District is dispatched to an emergency, there are volunteers assigned to control traffic at some intersections and in the vicinity of the emergency location. These are members of the Fire District’s Fire Police Unit. Elsmere has a unit consisting of ten fire police members supervised by a Fire Police Lieutenant.





Firefighter Assist Search Team (FAST)

A Firefighter Assist and Search Team (FAST), also known as a Rapid Intervention Team/Crew (RIT/RIC), is a specialized team of firefighters dedicated solely to search and rescue of other firefighters in distress at the scene of an emergency incident.  While not actively involved in search and rescue activities they will be alert for changing conditions of a fire, unsafe operations, and accountability of firefighters on the scene.  If called to aid unconscious, injured or trapped firefighters they are prepared to get them out of harms way immediately for further medical treatment as needed.  A FAST team shall have no other operational assignment during an incident. Multiple alarm or complex fires may require the response of multiple FAST teams.





Firefighter Training

The Elsmere Fire District, through its Chief Officers and the Company’s Fire Line Officers, boasts a comprehensive firefighter training program. In addition to weekly drills covering a variety of basic and advanced firefighting topics, members are encouraged to attend training classes conducted outside the regular drill schedule. Examples of this additional training include NYS sponsored fire training courses, firematic organization seminars, schools, meetings, on-line fire and technical matter, and self improvement courses.





Hazardous Materials Response

The Elsmere Fire District has firefighters trained to respond to Level B hazardous materials incidents.





Ladder Company Operations

The Elsmere Fire District emphasizes training in Ladder Company Operations. The Fire District operates a 100 ft. aerial platform, which can make the difference when called to suppress fires in commercial properties and the increasingly popular townhouse and garden apartment units that are being constructed in Town. This unit also carries a number of pieces of specialized equipment and a variety of ground ladders which firefighters use to combat structure fires.





Length of Service Award Program (LOSAP)

In 1994, voters in the Elsmere Fire District approved, and the Board of Fire Commissioners adopted, a Length of Service Award Program (LOSAP) for the volunteer firefighters of the Elsmere Fire Company A, Inc. This program requires our volunteer firefighters to be active participants in activities that are approved or required by the Elsmere Fire District. In 2012, the Board of Fire Commissioners passed a resolution, and the voters approved a resolution to establish a Defined Contribution LOSAP Program to replace the Defined Benefit Program in order to reduce costs which were becoming difficult to manage within the 2% tax cap restriction. This change reduced costs from about $130,000 in 2013 to $50,000 in 2014. In 2019, voters approved an increase in the annual earned benefit and reduced the entitlement age from 65 years to 60 years. These changes became effective on January 1, 2020.





VFBL

Volunteer Firemans Benefit Law