The Firemen's Association of New York State is urging Gov. Andrew Cuomo to support a bill aimed at alleviating an affordability crisis impacting fire departments.

Volunteer-based fire departments are usually the first to respond to urgent situations. However, increasing calls and the new protocols the departments have to take due to COVID-19 have put a financial strain on them, the association says.

"Statewide, if the fire department ambulances could bill for service, they'd recover about $100 million a year," says Chief Robert Leonard, with the Firemen's Association of NY. "Roughly $100 million going back into local communities in equipment, like what we're seeing right here."

Leonard says currently the agency that performs the transport of the patient in their ambulance can bill for service.

"We'd rather go to a source of revenue that exist, the insurance you're already paying for, the coverage you have, when you crash your car, when you get sick," he says.

If passed, the bill will also help offset the cost of personal protection equipment.

"COVID has been very rough for us, with the equipment that we've had to buy, it's depleted our budget for the year 2020," says Chief Johnathan Eck, of the Selden Fire Department.

Leonard says if the bill is passed, the $100 million that fire departments would recover across the state would also provide training and recertification of those emergency medical providers.

If the bill doesn't pass, fire departments may have to consider other sources of revenue to fill this gap.