Fighting flames and storm furies

Rhinecliff’s equipment consists of one ambulance, a new brush truck, a rescue pumper, and an attack engine, which is primarily for structure fires. Their membership, completely volunteer, is upwards of 100 people, approximately 25 of whom who are fully active.

“About 65 to 70 percent are over the age of 50,” Tim said. “That is changing; we have a lot of younger members in our Junior Membership, ages 16-18; five or six joined last year.”

Tim’s advice to the public for storm preparedness is: “Have several days’ worth of food and water, plenty of fresh batteries. If you can afford a generator, it is a must for around here. For basic survival stuff, you need a first aid kit, and CPR training is a must for pretty much everybody. During a large-scale storm, resources will be limited.”

He is also concerned that the “state of emergency” alerts have become meaningless to the public. “It’s dangerous. You should stay where you are; there’s a reason,” he said. “During Irene, we were checking out some of the flooding. Just north of 199 the road was completely flooded, and here comes someone in a Jetta, and he drove right through, water up to his windshield. People have their routine, and outside that they don’t know how to function, regardless of the danger.”

MILAN
Al Sardaro will be celebrating three years as Chief of the Milan Volunteer Fire Department this month. He’s been with the independent, member-owned department for 27 years and started at age 16. Yet he still has some years to go to catch up to his dad, Carl, or his uncle, John, who each have 50 years with the department. Carl was just re-elected to the Board of Directors and is a member of the Support Squad, John can still drive the trucks.

Milan has a Rescue Squad, Fire Police Squad and Support Squad, and three fire stations: at 1575 Jackson Corners Road, 900 Route 199 and 119 North Road. Their jurisdiction is an odd shape since Milan has a small population relative to its large area of approximately 50 square miles: from the Taconic Parkway about 1 ½ miles south of “the overlook,” south to one mile north of Bulls Head Road (approximately 13 miles); sections of Jackson Corners Road and Route 7, one-quarter of the Town of Gallatin, a small corner of the Town of Clermont, and along Route 199 from the top of Pulver’s Hill to about 100 yards past the “Fork in the Road” traffic light. Don’t worry, they know where they’re going.

“We run three engines,” Al said, “although one is a pumper tanker, a heavy rescue vehicle, one ambulance, one brush truck, and one utility with an ATV. During storms, we commandeer personal vehicles if we have to, usually members’ trucks.”

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