Ted Halpin, Emergency Manager, Madison County
(Wampsville) Members of the Earlville Volunteer Fire Department saved the life of a woman who went into cardiac arrest during the Annual Sherburne Pageant of Bands on June 4th 2016. An EFD crew was prepositioned to provide emergency response standby in the Village of Sherburne during the Pageant of Bands Parade. One of the EFD crew members noticed a woman in the crowd collapse and the Earlville Crew reacted to begin Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation. An automatic external defibrillator (AED) was secured and the patient regained her pulse with a single defibrillation. The Advanced Life Support Ambulance from Sherburne arrived quickly and the patient was transported to Community Memorial Hospital in Hamilton where she regained consciousness. The Earlville Fire Department crew of John Fontaine, Mike Doyle, Jim Doyle, and Jake Parsons were the critical link in beginning care for the patient along with readily available emergency services that saved a life.
The Madison County Emergency Management Office highlights the “Earlville Fire Department” this month. The Earlville Fire Department started in 1887 as the assemblage of three fire companies protecting the community of Red City and Earlville. Those companies included: Parson’s Hook and Ladder Company, Cotton Hose Company, and Douglas Hose Company. In the early years a right of membership was for two members to pull the hose wagon from the main four corners to the Kingsley Brook Bridge and back. Earlville was one of the first fire departments in Madison County to have a motorized fire apparatus and the second fire department after the City of Oneida to have a Hydraulic Rescue Tool. The current Fire Department is staffed by thirty-five active volunteer firefighters operating five pieces of fire apparatus out of one fire station just north of the Madison-Chenango County line. The Village of Earlville and the various Fire Protection District straddle two counties and four townships providing for a wide variety of responses. Current apparatus includes two Type 2 Engines, one Type 1 Tender, one Type 5 Mini Rescue, and a Type 6 Brush Truck. The fire department is led by Fire Chief John Fontaine.
The Earlville Fire Department is recognized for its dedicated community leadership and has provided fire safety education programs in the Earlville and now Sherburne Earlville Central School District for fifty years. Their monthly meetings are the first Thursday of the month and they have training and truck checks on Wednesday nights. Chief Fontaine was proud to mention that the members recently started training on Sunday mornings following a group breakfast to accommodate those members who work weeknights.
This is only one example in hundreds of the value of well trained, dedicated volunteer firefighters serving the Greater Earlville Community. Madison County Emergency Management is proud to highlight the “Earlville Fire Department” this month. For information about volunteer firefighter and EMS opportunities in Madison County, visitwww.MadCoHeroes.com.