Rockland County firefighters all have one thing in common. When those trucks from towns and villages make a midnight fire or rescue run, the men and women driving the trucks and answering the call are all volunteers. Duty doesn’t punch the clock and neither do volunteer firefighters, though most do have day jobs.
Some of Rockland’s community fire departments have been at it for a long long time. The Nyack Fire Department has been around since 1863. The Knickerbocker Fire Engine Co. of Rockland Lake celebrates its 150th anniversary September 15. The first meeting of the Sloatsburg Volunteer Fire Department was held November 27, 1923, in the Henry Club Auditorium, now the Sloatsburg Hardware store.
Beginning Friday, September 7, members from Rockland County’s 26 all-volunteer fire departments, which serve the county’s three towns — Ramapo, Haverstraw and Clarkstown — gather for their annual Rockland County Volunteer Firemen’s Association convention. This year’s event also marks a nice round number, with the RCVFA celebrating a centennial year, and is being hosted by the Wayne Hose Co. No. 1 out of Stony Point.
On Saturday, September 8, 2012, the Wayne Hose Co. will host the RCVFA Centennial Parade, which is the one and only time all 26 county fire departments parade together in competition and camaraderie.
“There are awards for trucks, marching, uniforms, everything,” said Matt Swanson, a lieutenant with the Sloatsburg Fire Department, who, along with other Sloatsburg personnel, was at the station Thursday evening waxing trucks for Saturday’s parade. Swanson said Sloatsburg will parade two trucks, the department’s 1750 pumper and a rescue vehicle, along with a van and the chief’s truck.
The 1750 is SFD’s all around fire response apparatus, while the Rescue is the department’s toolbox on wheels that responds to rescue calls.
“We don’t have the resources that other departments do,” said Swanson, saying that Sloatsburg has to keep apparatus on-hand to respond to emergencies, even during an annual celebration such as the RCVFA Centennial Parade.
The annual convention includes the election of RCVFA officers, the presentation of service awards, including Firefighter of the Year and the annual Liberty Mutual Insurance Fire Mark award for excellence in fire prevention. The Rockland County Fire Instructors’ Association will present its two Lt. Andrew Fredericks Memorial scholarships as well.
Matt Wilson, a Suffern volunteer firefighter with the Suffern Hook & Ladder Co., is the RCVFA’s Firefighter of the Year. During an April 28 house fire, Wilson entered the structure without protective gear and rescued a man trapped on the smoked out second floor.
This year’s convention will also see a changing of the guard, as current association president Frank Voce of the Congers Fire Department finishes out his term.
The RCVFA Centennial Parade takes place Saturday, September 8 and is hosted by the Wayne Hose Fire Co. No. 1 of Stony Point. The parade step off begins at 2 p.m. After lining-up facing east on Rt. 210, the parade turns right and south, through the business district on Rt. 9W, finally disbanding on Holt Drive near Times Square Lighting before the new large Shop Rite Supermarket in Stony Point.
Feature photo courtesy of Wayne Hose Co. No. 1.
