On this statewide recruiting weekend, Defreestville Fire hosted an open house to show people what they do and explain all the available ways to volunteer.

Emily Pirie, an engineer on one of the rescue trucks, gave us a tour.

Members of the Defreestville Fire Department and North Greenbush Fire District demonstrated some of the things they do.

Defreestville President Jeff Stehr has been involved for more than 40 years.

“The best part is the family that we have here. Our people. You never know who you’re going to meet. Members here are from a wide variety of backgrounds, from judges, to teachers, administrators, business owners,” he said.

“So a lot of the benefits are the comraderie that you get here as being part of our family. But also there are a lot of other benefits such as, the Governor’s office has announced this year that there are stipends issued to new firefighters that take the mandated state classes.”

This fire department runs about 500 calls for service a year, including more than 20 alarms for
structure fires.