The village will temporarily cut back on its paid firetruck drivers for part of June and August, but a report by the New York State Financial Restructuring Board for Local Governments recommends cutting all of its paid firetruck drivers and using only volunteers.
The village owns the fire house, three firetrucks and pays four truck drivers. The Potsdam Fire Department, however, is a group of 45 volunteer firefighters who attend to fires in the town and the village, according to the report.
The paid drivers drive to fires in the village. For those outside the village, the paid drivers drive the truck just outside the fire house, but not to the site of the fire. Volunteers do the driving in those instances, according to the report.