The Brisben Fire Department located at 2716 Route 12, will hold an auction on December 9 and will officially close on January 1, 2024 (Photo by Kelli Miller)

BRISBEN – The Brisben Fire Department along Route 12 in Brisben is closing and will auction off their building, equipment, vehicles, and supplies, December 9; officially bringing the department to close on January 1, 2024.

Brisben Fire Chief Jason Boise said he has only been with the department for a year and a half and fire chief for eight months, yet, he saw this day coming. 

It’s sad to see this close,” said Boise. “Now the people in the area will end up waiting quite some time for emergency response.”

Boise said the Brisben Fire Company has five members of which four are firefighters and one is a fire police member. They responded to about 300 calls in a year but could only show up with the minimal of four volunteers and that became a challenge. Without at least four firefighters, they could not respond.

“Now, it’s a two income family for most to live and when you’re working almost every day to make ends meet, that makes it difficult to want to volunteer,” he said. “Another difficulty is the lengthy training classes, people just don’t have that time.”

Chenango County Emergency Management Director Mathew Beckwith said, “The Brisben Fire department took a good look at the factors involved; their manpower, availability to respond to calls, apparatus, equipment, and the continuing vehicle maintenance and they made the hard decision. The commissioners, the fire department, and the fire chief got together and said they couldn’t do it anymore.”

He said they had trucks that needed to be replaced, equipment needed upgrading, and without enough manpower to respond to the calls to protect and serve the community, the harsh reality was either merging or dissolving the department.

Several months of talks and letters were sent out to the community for volunteers and only two letters came back from people that said they would try to do what they could- but that just wasn’t enough he said.

Beckwith said the decision was made after the public hearing and not many people showing up, nor volunteers, so they faced the reality they would shut their doors. Oxford, Greene, and Smithville agreed they will provide fire protection.

“There are other departments struggling, all are facing the same thing,” he said. “We sit around at monthly meetings with only five or six people that show up and when we have a fire, maybe get one or two pieces of apparatus out the door.”

Beckwith said this is not unique to Brisben, Chenango County or New York State. There are a lot of counties in different states that have faced this and southern states have taken the initiative and they’ve moved toward larger fire districts.

One of the biggest hurdles in New York are the several regulations and laws that prohibits a countywide fire department or state run fire departments. Several laws would need to be changed in legislature in Albany to allow for a county wide fire department. The biggest it can go is a municipal based fire service. 

He said larger organizations and lobbyists have put this emergency service need in front of the NY legislature for approval and it was addressed in the governors budget this year, but some of it was taken out. 

“It’s being forced down that you have to pay fire fighters to be there,” he said. “It’s not cheap. It comes from tax money, it comes from real property tax, sales tax, and unfortunately this is the tendency across the country.”

“I think there’s a lot of money spent in other areas that could be focused toward emergency services- a lot more than they are,” said Beckwith.

Beckwith said just this year, the State of New York has put together a stipend program for volunteer fire fighters that will pay volunteers for class time and get people back into volunteering for the local communities.

He said times have changed. Volunteering isn’t a priority for the younger generation and with the economy and different lifestyles, this all plays a major role in the decline of volunteer services. Farmers used to work from home and were readily available to respond. 

He said employers rarely allow time off from work to go to a fire, if they pay you, they want you there to do the work. Beckwith also said a lot of employees travel to their jobs, creating a commute that couldn’t support an emergency call.

According to the Chenango Historical Society, the first meeting was held in Red Men’s Hall on March 24, 1924, and the company was organized with 12 charter members. In April 1926, the company joined the Chenango County Firemen’s Association with 68 active members.