I understand that these clubs/associations are not what they used to be.
But i would like to help breathe life back into a worth while organization.
I think you're about 40 or 50 years too late for that.
A little bit of FDNY history:
During WWII, every major city established a Fire Dept. "auxiliary," which was made up "concerned citizens" at that time, who were trained in hands-on firefighting in an urban environment. In NYC, many of those auxiliaries maintain close contact and friendship with the firemen and, after the war, continued to hang out at their companies and ride with them.
That eventually developed buff clubs like the "Third Alarm Association" who, initially, rode with the official FDNY canteen driven and operated by a fireman. That, in turn, resulted in the Red Cross canteen being operated by TAA members for many years (there were also the "255 Club" in Brooklyn, and the "88-Club" on Staten Island who also ran Red Cross canteens).
Paralleling that was the continued development of the Auxiliary Services of the FD, with young "firehouse buffs," usually young kids who hung out at their local FDNY firehouses, became accepted by the members of the house (a big hurdle in itself!), and, upon turning 18 years of age, became trained as auxiliary firemen and began riding with those companies, later on with their yellow helmets.
That continued for MANY years, and was a big part of FDNY buffs in the 1950s and 60s. However, the 1970s brought on some big changes.
When the "War Years" became commonplace, with massive and numerous fires on a nightly basis, these same firehouse buffs, now with drivers' licenses and second-hand cars, decided that getting a radio and riding from fire to fire was more interesting than waiting at your buff house for a run, and listening to the firemen talk about their personal troubles. But many remained "loyal" to their companies for years to come.
Then, in 1973, labor troubles ensued within the FDNY and the firemen's unions, the UFA and UFOA, including the lack of manpower. One of the (many) problems which came up was that there were volunteers (auxiliaries) riding with companies, doing a lot of work, but work that should have been done by paid firemen. At some point, the UFA made an official statement that the auxiliaries should no longer ride with the companies. Company officers complied with that, without any animosity towards the buffs. They could still hang around the house, but no more riding. During that time, the UFA actually called for a strike, with many...but not all...firemen walking out, leaving the city with minimal manpower for firefighting, companies out of service, and picket lines. Fortunately, that strike only lasted hours.
Two years later, in 1975, massive layoffs of FD (as well as NYPD and other city titles) took place, essentially putting the final nail in the coffin of "firehouse buffs"......
Everyone still went to fires, but on their own.
The point is, trying to establish a "public safety" volunteer group today in a place like NYC (especially the Bronx) would be met with a lot of skepticism by the city agencies (especially by the police) The old days' buffs were known and (in some cases) respected. Today, not so much so. The first questions would be
, "Who are you?" and
"Who authorized you?", with you being turned away...or worse.
Become an EMT and join a volly ambulance corp somewhere.
