Apalachin Fire Department

By Mary Ann Cascarino, AFD Chief   

•  New Members 
 We welcome our newest members, Dan Cacciaclia, who joined in October, and Amanda Brown, who joined in November.   

•  Congratulations
Congratulations to Don Ames and Shawn Foland who recently completed the NYS Basic Firefighter Course.  

•  Thermal Imager
 Add AFD to the list of departments that have thermal imagers. Thanks to a recent FEMA grant of $10,800 and your generous donations, we were able to recently purchase an ISG K-90 XL Thermal Imager. Since the camera and accessories totaled over $20,000, we were able to use a portion of your contributions to help pay the balance.   The thermal imager is a multi-function camera that assists us in search and rescue situations, as well as in finding hot spots in the overhaul process.  

• SCBA Face Amplifiers
 In November, we also received a grant from Tums First Responder Grant Program in the amount of $1,522 to help defray the cost of SCBA face piece amplifiers. Again, your donations paid for a portion of the balance of $3,808. These amplifiers enable firefighters wearing SCBA to hear each other much better than in the past.

• Chief Completes Term
 On December 31, I will be completing my term of office as AFD Chief. After four years in this position, three years as an assistant chief, and many more years in various other officer positions, I will be cutting back on AFD time commitments, but will maintain my EMT-D status. Stay safe!

• AFD Officer Elections 
 Our department officer elections are in early December, so you will see some new faces in January. I wish to thank our officers and all the volunteer personnel who have given so freely of their time and talent over the past year. The commitment and dedication by these volunteers is very much appreciated, not only by myself. but I'm sure by the community as well.

• Fire District Election - Dec. 9
December 9, Tuesday, 6-9pm
Station #1, 230 Penna. Ave.
 There is one slot is open for the position of Fire District Commissioner. It is a five-year term that begins January 1, 2004. Residents of Apalachin are eligible to vote, and there are three candidates: Joe Morrison, Roy Runyon, and Mary Ann Cascarino.

 Happy Holidays from all of us at the Apalachin Fire Department - to all of you - Stay Safe!