Fire+Department+History

HISTORY

The officers first in charge were Chief Firma Moffatt, First Assistant Chief George Russel and Foreman William f Conklin and Elwood Fredricks. The first fire truck for the Sloatsburg Fire Department was purchased by a bond approved by the Village on June 29, 1931 for $6,500.00. The first President of the fire department was John Douglas elected on March 26, 1931. In the 1960’s the fire department moved from the original quarters to the new Municipal Building. The general alarm that is used for the initial alert and the siren that is located along the east side of Route 17 is still used in the new building. The Fire Department once had a Ladies Auxiliary who helped with aiding the fire fighters if they were injured in a fire.

PRESENT

The Sloatsburg Fire Department is a volunteer fire department. That means the fire fighters do not get paid. The current chief is Kevin Hartnett and the Assistant Chief is John Durkin. There are also 45 active members. The Fire Department is part of the Rockland County Mutual Aid plan. This means if we don’t have the right piece of equipment for a fire and another fire department does, we can call them to come help us. Our Fire Department has 1 Mountain Truck,2 Rescue trucks, and 3 Fire trucks 1 of the 3 fire trucks is the first for the fire department so that truck is only used for parades.

For training, the firefighters first apply for membership to the fire department and then to the Village Board for approval. Once they are approved they have to go for training that lasts for 6 weeks. The training is very extensive. When they train they have to prepare for house fires, brush fires, chemical spills, plane crashes, and other kinds of fires they might have to face.

Their meetings are held at the fire hall. They have Business meetings, Annual meetings to elect officers and weekly meetings on Wednesdays when they have drills. Once in awhile there may be special drills and mutual aid drills that include the surrounding fire departments. On Sunday mornings the fire truck driver drives the truck to become familiar with it.

The fire department attends parades that include the Rockland County Volunteer Fire Fighters parade that is held every year on the Saturday after Labor Day. This year the parade is going to be held in Suffern and next year in Tallman. The Sloatsburg fire department gets trophies for being in parades. Since the first fire truck still runs, they bring it out for everyone to see in some parades.

The purpose of our Fire Department is so they can put out any fires so they don’t spread anywhere else than where it already is. The Fire Department benefits our community by keeping us safe from fires.