Auburn Firefighters IAFF Local 1446

10/07/2026

Units are responding to a Truck vs Pedestrian on Genesee st near Lexington. Please avoid the area. More details to follow.

09/30/2026

From the members of Auburn Firefighters Local 1446:

Our hearts are with the Rizzo and Ruefle families, young Dominick, and everyone affected by the heartbreaking loss of Dominick Rizzo Jr., Alicia Ruefle, and Abigail.

We also stand with the firefighters and emergency personnel who responded to this tragedy. We know that some calls stay with you long after the gear is put away and the tones stop.

From one fire family to another, please know that you are not alone. The fire service is a brotherhood and sisterhood that extends far beyond our own communities. We will continue to keep the families, the responders, and everyone carrying this loss in our thoughts and prayers.

Auburn Firefighters�IAFF Local 1446

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1E2tTbA155/?mibextid=wwXIfr

09/29/2026

Local 1446 would like to congratulate DeWitt Firefighters Local 2733 on receiving a SAFER grant. This funding will improve the service provided to the citizens you protect while also enhancing the safety of your members.

Congratulations Local 2733!

DEWITT FIRE DISTRICT AWARDED $3.53 MILLION IN FEDERAL GRANTS - The DeWitt Fire District has been awarded $3,534,625 through the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) program to support the addition of necessary Firefighter/EMT positions. With a $2,197,199. investment by the District, the three-year initiative represents a total commitment of $5,731,824 to enhance emergency response capacity in the fire district.

The award addresses a consequential change in the demands of the District after the district was expanded in 2025. The addition of responsibilities including commercial, industrial, logistics, biotechnology, and semiconductor-related development is increasing the scale and complexity of the properties it protects. A significant incident can require simultaneous fire suppression, search and rescue, emergency medical operations, and protection of adjacent properties. Those tasks depend on having a sufficient force available when the call is received.

“The growth of our protection district has changed the level of risk we are responsible for managing,” said Philip Vander Molen, Fire District Commissioner. “This award allows us to address that responsibility with a substantial investment in personnel. For taxpayers, it supports a more capable and dependable emergency response system. For our firefighters, it means building the staffing needed to carry out dangerous work with greater safety and effectiveness.”

The District’s request was supported by a staffing and community risk analysis conducted with district leadership, including IAFF Local 2733. The analysis considered response data, current staffing, overtime usage, critical infrastructure, and findings from the FEMA-approved Onondaga County Multi-Jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan. It identified a need for 14 additional Firefighter/EMTs to strengthen response capacity, support advanced life support operations, reduce reliance on overtime, and advance the District’s goal of staffing a dedicated four-person truck company.

NFPA 1710 establishes a framework for the organization and deployment of career fire departments, including company staffing and the personnel required to carry out emergency operations. OSHA’s respiratory protection standard, 29 CFR 1910.134(g)(4), requires at least two firefighters inside and two outside during interior structural firefighting, subject to the rule’s provisions. Meeting that requirement is one part of an emergency response; crews must also have personnel available for command, water supply, ventilation, search, rescue, and other tasks dictated by the incident.

“Emergency response capability must be measured against the operational demands of the incidents we can reasonably expect to face,” said Fire Chief Jason Green. “As the District’s commercial footprint and critical infrastructure expand, the number of personnel required to perform essential tasks safely and concurrently also increases. These positions will improve our ability to assemble effective crews, manage complex incidents, and protect both responding firefighters and our residents, businesses, schools and visitors – that is what they all deserve. With support and commitment from Board of Fire Commissioners, the SAFER Grant will help us realize this initiative.”

President Andrew Philopena from DeWitt Professional Firefighters Local 2733 said the firefighter’s union is excited and grateful to receive the SAFER grant. “Our union, Fire Chief, and Board of Fire Commissioners share a commitment to providing the resources and support necessary to protect the people we serve. We sincerely thank the Chief’s office and the Board for their continued efforts to make our district and community safer. This grant is an important investment in the department’s ability to protect our community.”

The successful grant application was prepared on behalf of the fire district by grant consultants, MJ Burben, Inc. of Utica. The DeWitt Fire District thanks Senator Charles E. Schumer and his Syracuse office staff for their efforts to help bring this funding to the District. It also thanks FEMA’s SAFER program for recognizing the District’s staffing needs, and IAFF Local 2733 and the International Association of Fire Fighters for their cooperation and support.
International Association of Fire Fighters, Senator Chuck Schumer, FEMA Federal Emergency Management Agency

09/27/2026

CORRECTING THE RECORD: DEWITT FIRE DISTRICT

During this week’s Auburn City Council meeting, the DeWitt Fire District was referenced as a comparison to the Auburn Fire Department. It was stated that DeWitt responds to approximately 11,000 calls per year and that DeWitt covers a larger geographic area with fewer personnel.

If DeWitt is going to be used as a comparison to justify staffing decisions in Auburn, we believe the public deserves to have the complete and accurate information.

According to the January 6, 2026 meeting minutes of the DeWitt Fire District Board of Fire Commissioners, DeWitt responded to a total of 3,431 calls in 2025. Those calls consisted of:

1,640 General Calls
1,791 EMS Calls
3,431 Total Calls

The same official report shows that DeWitt responded to 2,398 total calls in 2024, consisting of 962 general calls and 1,436 EMS calls.

These are not estimates or numbers being provided by Auburn Firefighters Local 1446. These are response statistics published in the official meeting minutes of the DeWitt Fire District Board of Fire Commissioners.

The statement made during the Council meeting that DeWitt responds to approximately 11,000 calls annually is not supported by DeWitt Fire District’s own official response statistics. Their reported 2025 call volume was 3,431 calls not 11,000.

It was also stated during the Council meeting that DeWitt covers more square miles with fewer personnel than Auburn. Geographic size by itself, however, does not provide an accurate comparison of the workload or staffing needs of two fire departments.

A department may cover a larger geographic area while responding to significantly fewer emergencies. DeWitt’s own records show 3,431 total responses in 2025. Therefore, any comparison involving geographic size should also include call volume, population and population density, building types, high-risk occupancies, simultaneous incidents, EMS responsibilities, specialty rescue services, mutual-aid responsibilities, apparatus deployment, travel distances, and the number of firefighters actually available on the initial response.

Square miles alone do not determine the number of firefighters necessary to safely and effectively handle an emergency.

This is exactly why comparisons between fire departments need to be based on the complete operational picture not one statistic selected in isolation.

We have provided DeWitt Fire District’s own official records so the public can review the numbers for themselves.

https://www.dewittfire.org/apps/public/min/mins.cfm?MinType_ID=2

If another fire department is going to be used as justification for staffing decisions affecting the Auburn Fire Department, the comparison should be based on complete and accurate information.

Accurate information matters when discussing decisions that affect public and firefighter safety.

Auburn Firefighters Local 1446

The DeWitt Fire District, located at 4500 East Genesee Street, DeWitt, NY 13214, has a rich history of service and dedication to the community. Established in 1932, the department has evolved significantly over the decades, both in infrastructure and apparatus.

09/26/2026

Following several statements made during this weeks Auburn City Council meeting regarding Fire Department staffing, Auburn Firefighters Local 1446 believes it is important to provide residents with accurate information directly from the standards and reports that were referenced.

First, NFPA 1710 and fireground staffing.

NFPA 1710 addresses the deployment and staffing of career fire departments. For a typical 2,000-square-foot, two-story single-family dwelling, NFPA states:

“The initial full alarm assignment… must provide for a minimum of 16 members (17 if an aerial device is used).”

The staffing requirements increase significantly as the size and risk of the occupancy increase. NFPA identifies 27 firefighters (28 with an aerial device) for a typical three-story garden apartment and 42 firefighters (43 when the building is equipped with a fire pump) for a high-rise incident.

These numbers matter in Auburn, where our firefighters protect far more than single-family homes. Our response area includes apartment buildings, commercial occupancies, industrial facilities, schools, nursing facilities, and mid- and high-rise buildings.

The NFPA 1710 fact sheet can be read here:

https://content.nfpa.org/-/media/project/storefront/catalog/files/code-or-topic-fact-sheets/nfpa_1710_fact_sheet.pdf?rev=200f5f8ceb52411f9fdb8f98acaad12e&utm_source=chatgpt.com

Second, the “firefighters per 1,000 residents” statistic discussed by the Council should not be represented as an NFPA staffing recommendation.

The statistic comes from NFPA’s U.S. Fire Department Profile 2020, published in 2022. It describes statistical staffing rates reported by fire departments across the United States. It is not an NFPA recommendation for how many firefighters a community should employ.

In fact, NFPA specifically states:

“The rates of firefighters per 1,000 population… do not reflect recommended rates or some defined fire protection standard.”

NFPA further explains that departments vary because of factors including work schedules, unusual hazards, geographic dispersion, and the services provided by the department.

Simply dividing Auburn’s population by a national firefighters-per-1,000-residents statistic therefore does not establish the appropriate staffing level for the Auburn Fire Department. It does not account for Auburn’s specific building stock, concentration of population, emergency call volume, EMS responsibilities, special operations responsibilities, or higher-risk occupancies requiring substantially greater fireground resources.

Read NFPA’s report here:

NFPA — U.S. Fire Department Profile 2020
https://content.nfpa.org/-/media/Project/Storefront/Catalog/Files/Research/NFPA-Research/Emergency-responders/osfdprofile.pdf?rev=11492dd98ca94be580c0dab13e4500ef&utm_source=chatgpt.com

Finally, we want to address the statement that Auburn’s Fire Department was once staffed with 35 firefighters.

It was stated during the Council meeting that this information was provided by a retired Auburn firefighter. Local 1446’s historical knowledge and records do not support that statement. The Auburn Fire Department has not operated with 35 firefighters per shift during the past 50 years; staffing has not exceeded approximately 17 firefighters per shift during that period.

The Fire Department was once responsible for the City Codes Department, as well as multiple fire prevention and fire alarm technicians, many of whom were not certified firefighters. The 911 dispatch center was also located within the Auburn Fire Department. However, including those employees in the number of firefighters available to respond to an incident and perform life-safety and property-conservation operations is inaccurate.

If documentation exists showing otherwise, Local 1446 welcomes the opportunity to review it. Until then, a claim of 35 firefighters per shift should not be presented to the public as historical fact or used as part of the discussion regarding current staffing.

This discussion is too important to be based on misunderstood statistics or inaccurate historical comparisons. We have provided links to the facts we are reporting so that the public can review the information directly and receive accurate information.

NFPA’s own documents are clear: population-based statistics are not staffing recommendations. Fire department staffing must account for the actual resources necessary to safely perform the required tasks when an emergency occurs.

Staffing matters for the citizens we protect and for the firefighters who answer their calls.

Auburn Firefighters Local 1446

09/25/2026

Auburn Professional Firefighter’s IAFF Local #1446

Statement on September 24, 2026 Council Meeting

Local 1446 finds it very unfortunate that the collective bargaining process has reached a point that an agreement could not be finalized between ourselves and the City. New York State has a process that we will continue to follow to reach an agreement utilizing the same professionalism and good faith that we have employed during this negotiation. We do find it unsettling that the city’s leadership has chosen to utilize their platform to spread misinformation at this time. We will not actively negotiate our labor agreement publicly, but rather will continue to use the methods afforded to us by the Taylor Law.

IAFF LOCAL 1446

09/09/2026

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08/31/2026

Congratulations to Captain Donovan on his retirement. We would also like to thank him for his 26 years of serving on our union board including his 8 years as union president. Thank you Cap, have a great retirement.

This morning, the Auburn Fire Department celebrated the retirement of Captain Brian Donovan, marking the end of an outstanding 27-year career of service to the City of Auburn.
Captain Donovan was hired on July 19, 1999, and spent the majority of his career as a firefighter with D Platoon Truck Company.
On March 11, 2011, he was promoted to Lieutenant and assigned to B Platoon Truck Company. On January 31, 2020, Lieutenant Donovan transferred to A Platoon, Engine Company 3.
On May 17, 2024, he achieved the rank of Captain and was assigned to A Platoon Engine Company 4, where he served until today.
Throughout his career, Captain Donovan dedicated countless hours to serving the citizens of Auburn and working alongside the members of the Auburn Fire Department. His experience, leadership, and commitment to the job have made a lasting impact on the department.
From all of us at the Auburn Fire Department, thank you, Captain Donovan, for 27 years of dedicated service!
We wish you a long, happy, and well-deserved retirement. Enjoy the next chapter, Captain

08/28/2026

The members of Local 1446 would like to congratulate these members on their promotion.

Last night, during the Auburn City Council meeting, three members of the Auburn Fire Department were officially recognized and pinned for their recent promotions.

Captain Matthew Quill to Assistant Chief
Effective June 4, 2026

Lieutenant Patrick Whelan to Captain
Effective June 28, 2026

Firefighter Michael Dahl to Lieutenant
Effective July 21, 2026

Please join us in congratulating Assistant Chief Quill, Captain Whelan, and Lieutenant Dahl on their well-deserved promotions! Each of these positions carries increased responsibility, leadership, and commitment to the members of the Auburn Fire Department and the community we serve.

City of Auburn, NY - auburnny.gov Auburn Firefighters IAFF Local 1446

07/30/2026