Interview with Tim Yaeger, Emergency Management coordinator.
Submitted photos and press release:
When a crisis occurs, it is vital that communities collaborate. This week, the Genesee Valley Educational Partnership (GVEP) made a significant donation to both the Genesee and Livingston counties' Emergency Management systems.
These donations amounted to thousands of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) including gloves, disposable gowns, hand sanitizer, surgical masks, N95 respirator masks, blood pressure cuffs and alcohol prep pads.
While schools are closed, these items will be benefit local communities in the fight against COVID-19.
“Our nation is facing a pandemic that we have never encountered before," said Matt DellaPenna, GVEP director of Safety and Security. "These supplies will help to protect the brave first responders and healthcare workers who are on the frontlines of this COVID-19 outbreak.”
Press release:
The Buffalo office of the National Weather Service will be conducting a SKYWARN spotter training seminar in Batavia, at the Genesee County Fire Training Center, 7690 State Street Road, at 7 p.m. on Monday, March 30.
The training session will last about two hours and there is no cost for the training.
SKYWARN is a national effort to save lives during severe weather emergencies with an expanding network of trained volunteer weather spotters.
SKYWARN spotters support their local community and government by providing reports of severe weather directly to the National Weather Service in Buffalo by phone using the NWS spotter hotline, by email, or social media. The services performed by SKYWARN spotters have saved many lives.
The National Weather Service has an array of modern technology for detecting severe thunderstorms. Included in these are Doppler radar, satellite, and lightning detection networks. However, the most important tool for observing thunderstorms is the trained eye of the storm spotter.
By providing observations, SKYWARN spotters assist National Weather Service staff in their warning decisions and enable the National Weather Service to fulfill its mission of protecting life and property. Storm spotters are, and always will be, an indispensable part of the severe local storm warning program.
The basic training session provides a brief overview of the National Weather Service organization and our responsibilities, severe weather safety, and basic severe weather meteorology including how thunderstorms, severe thunderstorms and tornadoes develop.
Anyone can become a severe weather spotter for the National Weather Service. SKYWARN training is free and open to the public. The training is being sponsored by the Genesee County Office of Emergency Management.
For further information, you can call the National Weather Service at (716) 565-0204, ext. 223.
More information about SKYWARN is available on the NWS Buffalo website at http://www.weather.gov/buf/Skywarn
Register online, call or email the Genesee County Fire Training Center:
National Weather Service on the Web:
Submitted photo of Brian Schollard and press release:
The Genesee County Office of Emergency Management Services is pleased to announce the appointment of Brian Schollard as deputy fire coordinator for Genesee County effective Tuesday, Jan. 21.
As deputy fire coordinator, Schollard will be assigned to the West Battalion of the County, which includes the towns of Alabama, Corfu, Darien, East Pembroke, Indian Falls and Pembroke.
Deputy fire coordinators assist the coordinator of Emergency Management Services with planning and supervising county programs of fire training and mutual aid, preparation for emergency situations requiring the services of a firefighter, as well as serve as liaisons between the fire companies and the coordinator's office.
Schollard brings more than 30 years of fire service experience to the position.
He is the outgoing chief of the volunteer Corfu Rescue Hook & Ladder Co. #1, incorporated in 1882 to provide fire, rescue, and first-responder emergency medical services to the residents of Corfu. He is an active member of the Genesee County Emergency Support Unit (ESU) as well as the chair of the Fire Advisory Board Communications Committee.
Schollard is currently employed by the Village of Corfu.
The Genesee County Office of Emergency Management Services staff looks forward to the knowledge and experience Schollard will bring to this position.
Submitted photos and press release:
The Genesee County Office of Emergency Management in conjunction with the New York State Office of Fire Prevention and Control is pleased to announce the appointment of Ryan P. Hendershott (below) and Christina M. Marinaccio (above) as New York State Fire Instructors (SFI) assigned to Genesee County.
Marinaccio has served as a County Fire Instructor since 2017. She is an active member of the Le Roy Fire Department, the Genesee County Emergency Support Unit and the Genesee County Fire Investigation Team. She is employed as a firefighter for the City of Batavia Fire Department.
Hendershott has served as a County Fire Instructor since 2013. He is an active member of the Bethany Volunteer Fire Department and the Genesee County Fire Investigation Team. He is employed as a firefighter in the Henrietta Fire District.
In this new role as SFIs, they will work closely with the Genesee County Fire Coordinator and County Training Technician assessing needs and delivering NYS training programs to fire personnel.
Anyone interested in learning more about opportunities in the volunteer fire services are encouraged to contact your local fire department or Emergency Management Office.
If you live outside the City of Batavia in Genesee County, the ability of volunteer fire companies to get enough able-bodied manpower to your house in a timely manner if it ever caught on fire is reaching a crisis stage, Tim Yaeger, emergency management coordinator, told members of the County Legislature today.
"We're out of time," Yaeger said. "If anybody says that we've got time, we don't. We're out of time."
Volunteer fire companies throughout the county are running on a bare minimum of staffing. Many volunteers are past the age of retirement. And chiefs are getting burned out because there are few young firefighters with the training and experience to replace them.
Yaeger pulled no punches for the legislature and painted a pretty dire picture.
"You know you're out of time when the chair of the fire districts association is riding on an engine and he's well over 65 and he looks back and his crew is the average age of 72 years old and he thinks 'what do we do when we get there and it's actually an emergency?' The trucks go in. There are people on it. But can they do the job when they get there?"
The business model of volunteer firefighting is broken, Yaeger said, broken by changes in society -- people don't volunteer as much as they used to -- and changes in firefighting. The days of a young guy signing up, showing up the next day in his turnout gear to man a fire hose are over. Now a volunteer requires hours and hours of training, certification, and more training.
The state requires firefighters to be trained to national standards and firefighting has evolved to include multiple specialties, from haz-mat to rope teams, to extrication, to search and rescue, and medics.
"It's a dangerous job," Yaeger said. "It's a job that you have to be physically able to perform. And my concern is not only the numbers that have diminished but I think it's the personnel we're looking at. We don't have the personnel that we used to have to be able to do this job.
"We're seeing guys that are you, know, 60, 65, 70, 75, 80, years old still trying to do the job because they still have it in their heart that this is what they need to do.
"My concern is some of those folks probably shouldn't still be doing this job. They need to retire. There are not many fire chiefs, volunteer fire chiefs, that want to go tell a 35 or 40-year member that it is time that you hang up the helmet."
Yaeger has spent years pushing for legal changes in Albany that would allow communities to compensate their volunteers. But there are folks in Albany, Yaeger indicated, who hang to the notion of volunteer fire companies as partly social clubs, which was fine in Ben Franklin's day and in subsequent decades, but doesn't work in the 21st century.
This is a crisis the state and the county have seen coming for decades. There was a 1987 study that warned of a shortage of volunteers and in 2000 the county produced a report outlining the challenges facing volunteer companies. But in neither case were solutions proposed.
"Society, economics, everything is against us," Yaeger said. "It's just a way different world than it was 20 years ago. I mean, we're seeing it now with the level of apathy in chiefs meetings. You've got chiefs that are into their second or third term and they're burned out. They don't want to do it anymore. But nobody else is stepping up to fill that position so they're fulfilling positions that they really don't want but they have to do it."
Yaeger said he doesn't have the answer but indicated he favors paying firefighters on a per-call basis, and also perhaps compensating them for training.
The only thing stopping such reform is state law and there seems little willingness in Albany to make such a change.
A couple of years, the state gave volunteers a $250 annual tax credit. In Maryland, Yaeger noted, volunteers get a $3,500 a year tax credit.
"The fact that it costs them a significant amount of money to be a volunteer firefighter isn't right," Yaeger said. "And right now the best of the state and give us is $250. The tax credit isn't working."
Being a firefighter is a skilled job and firefighting, like all skilled jobs, there are fewer and fewer young people eager to pursue those kinds of skills. On top of that, rural schools are graduating half as many potential recruits as they were 20 years ago.
"My concern is, we're an aging population, we're definitely a declining population, and we're an overtaxed state," Yaeger said. "So, there are three things that I'm looking at and saying 'OK. How will we fix this?' Because as soon as we offer anything up it means it's going to cost money and everybody goes 'wait a minute we don't have any money.' "
Compensation, however, seems to be the key to fixing the problem.
"I mean, I'm sure nobody here is willing to sign up to give their life for free, go to all the training that they have to do and then say you're not going to get compensated, there's no health plan, there's no retirement, there is no benefit," Yaeger said. "As a matter of fact, it's going to cost you money."
Deputy coordinator Bill Schutt said being a volunteer firefighter is unlike just about any other kind of volunteer activity in a small community.
"As a volunteer firefighter, it's not on a schedule," Schutt said. "It's not going into a Kiwanis lunch. It's not volunteering once a month. It's some scheduled stuff but it's three o'clock in the morning when the alarm goes off, you got to get up and go even though you go to work in a couple of hours. That only appeals to an odd group of people and there's not many of them."
Some might think that the answer is a full-time paid staff for the entire county, but at $100,000 per firefighter, Genesee County just doesn't have the call volume to warrant the expense.
It wasn't that long ago that volunteer fire companies were the center of a local community's activities -- Stafford had its carnival, Elba the Onion Festival, East Pembroke the mud races. Those have all disappeared and frequently now, multiple companies are being dispatched to calls that used to take only one fire company just so there will be enough manpower to handle even a minor emergency.
"I know the dispatcher has got to be sitting there with their fingers crossed inside the dispatch center hoping somebody is going to respond," Yaeger said.
Press release:
Technology tools have become a mainstay of emergency services and law enforcement activities. Capitalizing on new technology, the Genesee County Emergency Management Office in partnership with the Genesee County Sheriff’s Office has initiated an Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) drone program.
A requirement of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), drone pilots must be licensed as a remote pilot under the Small Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Part 107 Rule.
Congratulations to Deputy Fire Coordinator Daniel Coffey on obtaining his Part 107 Remote Pilot Certificate.
Among the topic areas tested, DFC Coffey was required to show proficiency in applicable regulations relating to UAS aircraft system rating privileges, limitations, and flight operation; aviation weather sources and effects on UAS aircraft; and emergency procedures, radio communications, maintenance and preflight inspection procedures.
Once operational, the county drone program will enhance the fire/ ems and law enforcement recon, search & rescue, monitoring and photo capabilities to name a few of the many benefits of this program ; as it simplifies and expedites tasks, ensuring accurate data and in many cases increases overall safety.
While Jim Bouton may be retiring from his job with the county as a fire coordinator, his nearly 50 years of service to Genesee County will continue.
Bouton said he will remain with the Town of Batavia Fire Department as a volunteer deputy fire chief.
Bouton, a retired corrections officer, started as a volunteer firefighter in 1972 in Alexander. He was chief by 1983. He took his first job as a fire inspector with the county in 1996. In 2004, he was hired in the Office of Emergency Management as a fire coordinator and training technician.
The thing he will miss the most, he said, is being with the people who became his friends over the course of his career.
"I liked working with a mass group of great folks out there," Bouton said. "I made a lot of friends, a lot of new friends. It was a wonderful experience. I wouldn’t give it up for anything."
After 47 years in the fire service, Bouton said volunteering with a local fire company is definitely a career path he would recommend for young people.
"It might open doors you didn’t think might be there for a career down the road, whether it’s maybe becoming a paid firefighter or a lot of other opportunities that happen because of the association of friends and group of friends you’re going to meet, some door may open," Bouton said.
Top photo: Tim Yaeger, emergency management coordinator, presents Bouton with his helmet and a commemorative helmet stand. Gary Patnode and Diane Bouton are on each side.
Coordinators with the Office of Emergency Management: Gary Patnode, Chuck Dodson, Bill Schutt, Jim Bouton, Tim Yaeger, Don Roblee (retired), and Sean Downing.
City firefighters presented Jim Bouton with a plaque to congratulate him on his retirement. Pictured: Dwane Weathell, Marty Hinz, Jim Bouton, Christine Marinaccio, and Mark Holly.
The Genesee County Office of Emergency Management Services is pleased to announce the appointment of Gary Patnode (inset photo, left) as Training Technician for Genesee County effective July 8, filling the position vacated by James Bouton after seven years of service.
Patnode brings with him more 20 years of experiences as a volunteer firefighter with the Town of Alabama, including 10 years as Alabama fire chief.
Additionally, he serves as a New York State fire instructor, a Certified New York State fire investigator and EMT-basic.
He is HazMat Team leader for the Genesee County Emergency Support Unit (ESU) and the deputy fire coordinator of the West Battalion (GM4) assisting Alabama, Corfu, Darien, East Pembroke, and Pembroke fire departments.
Coffey brings 18 years of fire service experience to the position. He is currently serving as the fire chief of the Town of Batavia Fire Department, a New York State fire instructor and a member of the Genesee County Emergency Support Unit (ESU) as well as a member of the Genesee County Fire Investigation Team.
He is also a career sergeant for the City of Batavia Police Department.
As deputy fire coordinator of the Center Battalion, Coffey will provide assistant to Alexander, City and Town of Batavia, Bethany, Elba and Oakfield fire departments.
The county Office of Emergency Management Services looks forward to the knowledge, experience and positive impact these two men will bring to their respective positions.
On behalf of the fire and EMS service of Genesee County, we extend our appreciation to Jim Bouton for his years of service and dedication to the citizens of the county, and our best wishes to him in his future endeavors.
Public Notice
Genesee County is completing the process of updating its Hazard Mitigation Plan (HMP).
The HMP documents the County’s vulnerability to hazards and its strategy to reduce that vulnerability. The draft of the updated HMP is now complete and available for review at www.geneseecountyhmp.com under the "Draft Documents for Review" page.
A meeting to discuss the draft HMP will be held on Tuesday, May 28 from 4:30-6 p.m. at the Genesee County Office of Emergency Management Services, 7690 State Street Road, Batavia.
Additional information about the HMP and the planning process is available at www.geneseecountyhmp.com. Contact Tim Yaeger, coordinator, Genesee County Office of Emergency Management Services, for more information at 585-344-0078.
Press release from the Genesee County Office of Emergency Management:
Ten area firefighers from six fire departments successfully completed the Rope Rescue Basic course held at the Genesee County Fire Training Center on Sept. 17.
This 24-hour course prepares students for a wide variety of possible rescue scenarios.
Specialized rescue, search, technical rescue management, risk and priorities, use of ropes, knots and rope systems in a low angle environment as well as establishment of landing zones for helicopter operations were addressed. The program involved demonstrations as well as practice sessions.
Congratulations to the following personnel:
City of Batavia FD
Town of Batavia FD
Bethany FD
Corfu FD
Elba FD
Stafford FD
Visit your local fire department to find out more about volunteer opportunities.
Press release:
A Basic First Aid/ CPR class is scheduled to be held on Saturday, Aug. 4th, at the Genesee County Fire Training Center.
The CPR portion will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m., followed by Basic First Aid from 12:30 to 4 p.m. The cost is $25 per portion or $50 for the full course.
The class will include instruction on basic first aid, use of an automated defibrillator (AED) and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). A First Aid/CPR certification will be issued to those who successfully complete the class.
Registration is required. Interested parties should contact the Genesee County Office of Emergency Management Services at 585-344-0078 or email Jeanette.diehl@co.genesee.ny.us.
Press release:
Four students successfully completed the NYS Advanced Emergency Medical Technician (AEMT) program sponsored by Genesee County.
The five-month long program, held at the Genesee County Fire Training Center, provided an opportunity for current NYS DOH EMTs to acquire additional life support skills such as intravenous (IV) therapy, advance airway management, emergent medications, advanced patient assessment techniques, etc.
In addition to the required classroom hours, students completed clinical experience at an area hospital as well as an internship with an ALS ambulance. The advanced emergency medical technician provides mid-level, pre-hospital, emergency medical services.
New AEMT certification was achieved by:
Genesee County sponsors an AEMT program annually. The program begins each January with testing conducted in June.
Assemblyman Steve Hawley poses with Genesee County Emergency Management Coordinator Tim Yaeger in the Assembly Chamber.
Submitted photo and press release:
“It was my pleasure to welcome Genesee County’s Emergency Management Coordinator Tim Yaeger to Albany Tuesday and recognize the crucial role he plays in responding to accidents, natural disasters and keeping our residents out of harm’s way,” Hawley said.
“When calamity strikes, Tim always remains cool and collected under pressure, and I admire his work on behalf of all of Genesee County. It was truly a pleasure honoring him in Albany.”
Yaeger, who wore his full dress uniform when visiting the state Capitol, was among a large contingency of officials in firefighting, disaster preparedness and emergency management statewide who traveled to Albany this week.
Press release:
Genesee County is in the process of updating its Hazard Mitigation Plan (HMP). The HMP documents the County’s vulnerability to hazards and its strategy to reduce that vulnerability.
A meeting to discuss the updated risk assessment will be held from 9 to 11 a.m. on Thursday, May 24, at the Genesee County Office of Emergency Management Services, 7690 State Street Road, Batavia.
Additional information about the HMP and the planning process is available at www.geneseecountyhmp.com.
Updated hazard profiles will be available for review at www.geneseecountyhmp.com under the "Draft Documents for Review" page. Please check the website regularly for updates.
Contact Tim Yaeger, coordinator, Genesee County Office of Emergency Management Services, at 585-344-0078 for additional information.
Submitted photo and press release:
The Genesee County ESU Team (Emergency Support Unit) held a Confined Space Exercise at the Cargill Inc. facility located at 8849 Wortendyke Road, Batavia, on May 5th.
The ESU Team simulated a rescue of a worker in a product silo utilizing high-angle rope and confined-space skills and equipment. The Rescue Technicians scaled a 140-foot tower and entered a product silo descending approximately 70 feet to gain access to the simulated trapped worker.
Cargill’s commitment to the safety of their workers is second to none and this proactive approach in allowing local rescue personnel to train and hone their skills reinforces their commitment. The East Pembroke Fire Department and Mercy EMS assisted in the training event.
The Genesee County ESU team trains and drills monthly in addition to attending hazardous material and technical rescue programs regionally and nationally. The County ESU Team consists of volunteer firefighters from across Genesee County.
If you are interested in becoming a volunteer, contact your local volunteer fire department or the Office of Emergency Management Services at 585-344-0078.
Nearly 100 firefighters and other emergency responders were at the Fire Training Center today to participate in four different classes to help them be better prepared for accident and fire responses.
Gary Hearn, regional emergency manager for Amtrak (bottom photo), taught a class on train passenger emergency response procedures.
There was advanced instruction for emergency medical technicians taking place in another classroom.
In still another classroom, the first day of two days of training sponsored by Tompkins Insurance on emergency vehicle operations.
And out in the back of the training center, the Firefighter II class spent eight hours learning about and practicing accident victim extrication.
"There can be severe damage, so they need to learn as many tricks as possible to get these folks out as quickly as possible," said Jim Bouton, deputy emergency coordinator.
The training center is often a busy place, Bouton said, but today was a little extra busy.
"Quite often the building is full but we’re out here on a back road and nobody sees us," Bouton said. "Sometimes, though we have a tremendous number of programs going on. Today we just happened to have every single classroom and training area filled."
Submitted photos and press release:
The Alternative Fuel Vehicles & New Technologies four-hour class was offered by the Genesee County Office of Emergency Management Services in conjunction with the NYS Office of Fire Prevention and Control on Feb. 12 at the Fire Training Center.
It was attended by 63 fire personnel from Genesee County and the surrounding area.
Information about the hazards of the new fuels such as methanol, compressed natural gas and electric power; as well as the pressures created within fuel cylinders was addressed in addition to safety information on other possible hazards related to alternative fuel vehicles. State Fire Instructor David Harrington also addressed the changing technology of the automobile.
Genesee County participants included:
Alabama
Aron Kehlenbeck
Gary Patnode
William Schutt
Ryan Thompson
Todd Thompson
Town of Batavia
Josh Boyle
Daniel Coffey
Paul Dibble
Gary Diegelman
Clayton Gorski
Stephen Kowalzyk
Scott Maloy
Ian Sanfratello
Tyler Stewart
Robert Tripp
Ray Zwolinski
Corfu
Mitchell Bates
Cyle Felski
Kristen Gaik
James Hale
Tyler Lang
Matthew Lenhard
Rob McNally
Steve Rodland
Lori Ann Santini
Brian Schollard
Daniel Smith
Jacob Stiles
Ben Trapani
Ray Zwolinski
Darien
Joe Marino
David McGreevy
Tim McGreevy
Brandon Scott
Mark Starczewski
Elba
Jennifer Cardinali
Michael Heale
Tim Hoffarth
John Mudrzynski
Michael Pfendler
Michael Schad
Oliver Shuknecht
Megan Tabor
Nathan Tabor
George Underhill
Bob Zipfel
Caitlin Zipfel
Conor Wilkes
Stafford
Rodney Bobo
Samantha Call
Ken Collins
Ronald DeMena
Tim Eckdahl
Matt Hendershott
Randal Henning
Steve Johnson
Ashley Swatzenberg
Press release:
The Genesee County Office of Emergency Management is pleased to announce the appointment of Christina Marinaccio as County Fire Instructor for Genesee County effective October 2017.
Marinaccio is an active member of the Le Roy Fire Department and the Genesee County Emergency Support Unit. She is currently employed as a City of Batavia firefighter.
Her responsibilities as County Fire Instructor include conducting fire training and instruction in fire prevention and control in accordance with the New York State Fire Training Program.
Press release:
William Schutt graduated from FEMA’s National Emergency Management Advanced Academy (formerly the Leaders Academy) at the Emergency Management Institute in Emmitsburg, Md., after he completed the full curriculum that provides the strategic level training and education in the essential skills and tools for emergency management professionals to lead dynamic and resilient programs.
Schutt completed the four resident courses with three short distance learning sessions in the Advanced Academy including: A Survey of Advanced Concepts in Emergency Management; Assessment and Application of Professional Style in Emergency Management; Advanced Concepts and Issues in the Emergency Management Organization; and Advanced Concepts and Issues in the Emergency Management Community and Profession.
FEMA’s National Emergency Management Advanced Academy reinforces the qualities needed to lead emergency management programs, provides relevant management theories and concepts, and utilizes appropriate case studies. By working within their series, Advanced Academy participants work within a collaborative environment on projects and establish a network of their peers.
The Academy is designed for emerging leaders and mid-level managers wanting to advance their skillset. Students learn skills critical to performing leadership responsibilities such as program management and oversight, effective communication at all levels, integrated collaboration, and strategic thinking. The Advanced Academy provides students the opportunity to demonstrate their critical thinking ability through a guided research project. Students apply the key learning concepts from the Advanced Academy curriculum relative to their own skillsets and abilities within their organizations, and their own performance environments.
FEMA’s Emergency Management Professional Program (EMPP) curriculum is designed to provide a lifetime of learning for emergency managers and includes three separate, but closely threaded, training programs including the National Emergency Management Basic Academy; a specialized and technical training program to develop specific, fundamental skill sets; the National Emergency Management Advanced Academy; and the National Emergency Management Executive Academy; a program designed to challenge and enhance the talents of the nation’s emergency management senior executives through critical thinking, visionary strategic planning, challenging conventional concepts, and negotiation and conflict resolution applied to complex real-world problems.
William Schutt completed his training on Sept. 15.
Photo: FEMA’s Emergency Management Institute (EMI) graduated William Schutt who completed all requirements of the National Emergency Management Advanced Academy. Paul Butki, acting superintendent of EMI is shown congratulating William as he graduates. Shane Gibbon /FEMA
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