Apalachin Fire Department
Chief's Corner 

 Well, fall will soon be upon us and I hope everyone has had a good summer. We at the Apalachin Fire Department have had a very busy summer. Since my last column, we have had the field days, several new members joined with a few more waiting for approval and we have had people working to further their education.

• Thank You
 First, let me thank everyone for a successful field days back in June. From all of our own members, to all of the community members that showed up to volunteer their time and support, "THANK YOU!" Many of our community members continue to help us out year after year with setting up, working in the booths, and supporting our efforts. You will never know just how much that means to us, we couldn't do it without you. 

• New Members
 As for our members, we have had five new ones join and we have two applicants waiting for approval in September. Our new members are:  Kathleen Jones, Laura Koch, Katherine Medaglia-Wilkie, Bridget Reichhold and Bob Squier. Bob is already a life member of the Apalachin Fire Dept. from his previous years of experience, and has decided to return to active duty again. We appreciate the interest these folks, and all our active members, are exhibiting in our organization and look forward to watching them grow with us and expand their talents as they serve our community. 

• Members Continue Education
 Another important item for us and the community is that we have had several members further their education. Ray Morgan and Eric Benjamin are now Certified Emergency Medical Technicians at the basic level. Eric has also gone from red tag status to yellow tag status. Our squad captain, Joseph Betkavsky, has passed his Emergency Medical Technician at the critical care level. Shaun Foland and Don Ames have achieved green tag status. The colored tag differences are standard. The meanings of the colors are:  red tags are support personnel, yellow tags are exterior firefighters and green tags are interior firefighters. Thank you to all the members who put forth an extra effort in continuing their education.

 Over the summer, we have had several good training sessions, some with our neighboring districts. In this day and age of busy schedules and working all hours, our members' time to volunteer can sometimes be tight. We have to rely on our neighboring districts for support for our community. Mutually aiding each other is a good way to share services to provide the best coverage when an emergency incident gets bigger than we have people for. We would like to take a moment and thank all our neighboring districts, Campville, Vestal, Owego, Southside, and Little Meadows for continuing to come out and support the Apalachin community when we need to call them for mutual aid in our district. We also look forward to continuing our mutual aid, training, and relationships with them.

• School's Open, Drive Carefully School buses will be on the road starting September 8, and extra care and caution should be exercised. With the opening of school, there will be a lot of children and parents out, so remember that safety is always the best choice and you can't pass a school bus when their red lights are flashing. 

• Open House in October 
 October 3-9 is Fire Prevention Week. Watch for the date of our annual open house, which is always a good time. We have activities throughout the day that prove to be both entertaining and educational. This is also a good time to change the batteries in your smoke detectors when you change your clocks.

 Have a safe end of summer as we get ready for a beautiful fall season.