The Jericho Fire District, long impeded by a town code which limited the number of volunteers it could recruit from outside district boundaries, was freed of these restrictions on July 27 whe Governor George Pataki signed into law a bill sponsored by Senator Carl Marcellino and Assemblyman David Sidikman.

According to town law, only 45 percent of an entire volunteer department can be comprised of people who reside outside the region that the department protects. Likewise, no more than 45 percent of any individual company within a department can be composed of out-of-district residents. The Jericho Fire District is now exempt from that law.

"It became a numbers game," said Fire Commissioner Mike Milner, who spearheaded the effort for the new legislation. "In order to not break the law, we had to play the game."

The town's restrictions are intended to ensure quick response times to emergencies, but in the case of Jericho, where volunteerism has been scarce, it was doing more damage than good.

"At certain times I've turned applicants away," said First Assistant Chief Dave Ginzburg. Many of these applicants were more than qualified, but the roster was already filled with out-of-district members.

Worse, it has been difficult to find Jericho residents with similar qualifications who actually have the time to volunteer. Most of Jericho's best candidates to volunteer are either going to college or are employed.

Ginzburg admitted that the district was already bending the rules and exceeding the limit. "It's a problem that we've been looking at for a while, the fact that a growing number of people on our roster are people who live out of the district," said Ginzburg.

Therefore, to ensure that they were legally following procedures, the Jericho Board of Fire Commissioners sought the help of Marcellino and Sidikman. "Both gentlemen were very helpful," said Milner.

The legislation states, "The Jericho Fire District has been serving the needs of the citizens and their guests for over 60 years. During this time, time restraints and the cost of living have made it very difficult to recruit Jericho residents to join the fire department." By granting the district an exemption from the town law, states the legislation, "The increased membership will allow the Jericho Fire Department to continue to provide the necessary fire and emergency medical service."

The fire district's immediate problem may be solved, but it must now be wary of how its overall response time to emergencies might be affected. Although technically the law allows the department to recruit 100 percent out-of-district if need be, Ginzburg realizes that it will be important to ensure that a solid portion of the department's personnel remains living in Jericho or in very close proximity.

"Getting people that live so far out of the district that it could take them 10-plus minutes [to get to Jericho], especially during heavy traffic times, doesn't help too much," said Ginzburg.

"I need Jericho residents. I need people who live in the area to volunteer their time. I'm not using this [legislation] as a problem cure. I'm looking at this mainly [as a means] to address a situation that we're already in," said Ginzburg.

Having said that, Ginzburg did not want to give an exact figure of how many out-of-district members are too many, or how far away is too far. He did say, however, that there is a "logistical limit."

Milner said that he would like to see certain precautions taken to guarantee quick response times. He would like the out-of-district volunteers to spend several hours each week on call in the firehouse, so that they are readily available for emergencies.

Ginzburg said that when anyone from out of the district volunteers for the Jericho Fire Department, he first questions why that person is not joining his own community's fire department.

There are several reasons why the Jericho Fire Department is so appealing to outsiders. Jericho is the only fire company in the area to have a squad assembled solely for rescues. Members of this company drive ambulances and provide medical aid, but do not need to fight fires, nor be fire qualified.

Also, many fire districts, unlike Jericho, do not accept students because they can only volunteer during their vacation months.

As for the other out-of-district volunteers, "In many cases they're members who used to live in Jericho or grew up in Jericho, but ended up moving out," explained Ginzburg. "But they want to still maintain their membership in the department."