A city firefighter's decision to alert the state that volunteers are behind on mandated training prompted the fire chief to forbid the crew of 18 volunteers from rushing into burning buildings.
"The training will be upgraded," Mayor Daniel Dwyer said. "We will do it in a couple of weeks."
Dwyer said a "disgruntled" firefighter contacted the state's Public Employees Safety Health Bureau to complain about the lack of training, which led to Chief Bill Hummel's decision to sideline the volunteers. The restriction put on the volunteers and not on the 12 paid firefighters reflects an ongoing battle between the volunteers and members of the paid firefighters' union, said Michael Stammel, one of the volunteer firefighters and a Rensselaer County legislator.