Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Delivers Remarks at FASNY Museum of Firefighting’s 100th Anniversary

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul delivered remarks at FASNY Museum of Firefighting’s 100th anniversary celebration. The Governor also announced New York’s Volunteer Firefighter Training Stipend program is being expanded to reimburse costs related to Basic Wildland Fire Suppression for firefighters involved in fighting wildfires. The course, a joint effort of the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Service’s Office of Fire Prevention and Control and the Department of Environmental Conservation, covers wildland firefighting responsibilities, fire behavior, weather and other factors related to wildland firefighting.

VIDEO: The event is available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).

AUDIO: The Governor’s remarks are available in audio form here.

PHOTOS: The Governor’s Flickr page will post photos of the event here.

A rush transcript of the Governor’s remarks is available below:

I'm told firefighters like it when it rains, right? Right? It's better than a drought. There we go. Jamie, thank you for being the keeper of this incredible gem here in the State of New York that is truly the envy of the nation; and having experienced it myself and already decided “have to bring that 3-year-old granddaughter here because she will love it,” it reminds me of what's so unique and special about our state.

It is places like this where people 100 years ago decided that we must celebrate and showcase the contributions of the firefighting community, and that is why we're here today to celebrate the 100th anniversary. I also want to thank Gene Perry, our president of FASNY — we see each other at many, many events; Jim Cable, our state fire administrator, appreciate all you do; our Congressman, Josh Riley is here, let's give him a special round of applause for all he does — fighting the good fight in Washington, D.C. My gosh, I'm glad I'm Governor, not a member of Congress anymore; that's an aside.

And our Mayor, Kamal Johnson, the City of Hudson. Thank you, Mayor. Our Commissioner of the DEC, newly confirmed, Amanda Lefton. You'll be seeing her at all the sites and the trainings — I want to thank Amanda Lefton. And someone who's been near and dear to me for 41 years of marriage and still puts up with it — your First Gentleman, my husband, Bill Hochul.

I just came out to meet Molly, Dalmatian — more popular than anybody in recent polls, and I think that's fantastic. But — I just want to say, do you know the origin of the name Molly, though? Why Molly has the name Molly? And it's quite a story, it's named after Molly Williams, a slave in New York City, and at one time in our history, one out of five residents of New York City were enslaved peoples. Molly is named after Molly Williams, the first known Black and first female firefighter. Now think about this. It was the winter of 1818, a flu breakout knocked out every man who could respond to fires — all that were left were women.

Molly dragged a heavy pumper through the blizzard by herself to put out a fire. She was one of the first, and her courage is celebrated here at this museum, but also her namesake. Molly does us proud every day in telling this story and reminding us the history goes back so far, but there's no place that traces — with the size of this collection — the great story of those who step up, are willing to go through rigorous training and go into harm's way on a moment's notice leaving their family; many meals not being eaten, many birthdays and celebrations not being joined with families.

Because I used to be a local official — my community had 10 fire companies; every one of them had an installation dinner every year. I was often asked to be the emcee. After a while, you run out of jokes. So the internet was young back then and I went online and said, “Please display all clean firefighter jokes,” and it came up, “no entries found,” so I was on my own, but I had a chance to embrace this community, going to probably over 100 events, and celebrations, and parades, and picnics, and barbecues, and I saw how tight these communities are with their families — the families of the firefighters — but they're willing to drop it all and as I said, go into harm's way without a second thought, helping not just their family and friends, but strangers.

And today, that work has evolved to being so much harder, so much more sophisticated — being on call for medical emergencies and hazardous spills on our roadways. And now we have wildfires — in addition to the traditional building structure fires — wildfires, that were never a major issue here in the State of New York that is something we've been having to fight most recently. But the challenge is recruitment has not kept up with the demand, and many individuals serving today are generational: grandmother, grandfather, parents, they themselves, their siblings, but families are shrinking, people of other responsibilities, and it's really hard, even though right now half of the population of New York State, 9 million is served by volunteer firefighters.

That's extraordinary, but now I realize that we have a real retention issue and a recruitment issue. So I launched a first-ever recruitment and retention task force, and we also learned the extra costs of the training and the travel required for someone brand new to enter the service. So I invested $10 million in the volunteer firefighting stipend program to offset the cost for new firefighters. That resulted in us picking up the cost for 1,400 new members just in the last couple years — it's working.

So I'm proud to announce today that we're expanding our stipend program to cover those costs associated with wildland fire training as well, because the last two years alone, we've had 268 wildfires covering nearly 8,000 acres of land. This is a new dynamic. I want everyone trained, and I want to be there to help pick up the cost of that — so let's get that done; I think it's critically important.

Also, our buildings — now, you have great buildings here, but all across the state — many of them are in decline, in disrepair, and it's an additional cost for the local taxpayers to have to pay for those services and for those buildings and renovations. That's why we've already secured over $50 million, $25 million in this year's Budget alone, to help upgrade equipment and build the facilities that our members, our volunteer members have a first rate world class facility to operate under. We've also banned carcinogenic flame retardant chemicals in many items and made sure our firefighters aren't exposed to these dangerous toxins.

And this year we also banned firefighter equipment being sold with PFAS, a harmful chemical that was linked to cancer and literally in their uniforms. So we're getting smarter about this, we're doing things right and I want people to know my commitment is so deep to all of you who serve, the people you represent, but also a chance to showcase — through this museum — the great story and the great history, and hopefully inspire other children to walk through the doors and walk out and say, “I want to do that. I want to serve my community. I want to be out there. I want to be in the line of fire, literally, because I want to do what those who've gone before me have done that are celebrated in this magnificent museum.”

Thank you, everyone. And I want to present Jamie, and anyone else who'd like it, a very large proclamation from the State of New York for the 100th anniversary — and I've been in this business long enough that there's probably no one here who wants me to read every small print word of this. Anybody want me to read it? Hearing nothing? Okay. I'll put it in the museum, you can read it first. But this is the FASNY Museum of Firefighters — congratulations on 100 years of making us proud. Thank you, Jamie.