Dear Editor,
This is an open letter to the Apalachin Fire District taxpayers. The capital project for Station 1 on Pennsylvania Avenue is nearing completion as you read this letter, and we expect to take possession in January and resume normal operations out of Station 1 in February 2018.
The new station represents a major milestone in your volunteer Fire Department’s 105-year history. The new station will provide the needed space to accommodate the larger size of fire apparatus over the past half a century as well as adequate meeting space, offices and storage.
The garage bays will host mezzanines for additional storage and mechanical equipment that made cost effective use of the space without adding square footage to our footprint. Throughout the station, consideration was given by the Building Committee to ensure there are ample training opportunities for our firefighters to leverage once in the new space.
During the Fire Commissioner election held the second Tuesday of December by New York State law, local resident and past Apalachin Fire Chief Bill Prentice was successful. The Board of Fire Commissioners welcomes our newest Commissioner and looks forward to working together in 2018 to best serve the Fire District.
There is no shortage of priorities including improving EMS coverage, being the best possible stewards of your tax dollars, and ensuring we meet the mission of the Fire District.
Over the past few weeks I’ve received numerous calls and messages asking what the community can do to support your volunteer fire department. First and foremost, you can volunteer. Applications can be found at www.apalachinfd.com.
If you are unable to volunteer yourself, support those that do. This can be as simple as babysitting Wednesday nights so volunteers can attend weekly drills or perhaps being ‘on call’ to babysit when a volunteer needs to respond to a 911 call.
Finally, your donations have been instrumental in implementing our water rescue team and creating training opportunities for our volunteers.
We will be planning an open house as we settle into the new station. We will communicate that once it develops and look forward to seeing you at the new station.
In the interim, thank you all for your support of our volunteer firefighters. If you have any questions, compliments or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact me with the details below.
Sincerely,
Brian Rieber
Chairman, Board of Fire Commissioners
(607) 765-2974
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