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Dear Henrietta Residents, The Henrietta Fire District: In 1931 and 1932, the Town of Henrietta was petitioned by Henrietta Fire Company No.1 and the West Henrietta Fire Department to Form a Fire District. This district, from historical records, seems to have been formed in 1933. In 1941, the Genesee Valley Fire Department joined the Fire District. From 1933 to 1969 this Fire District operated under the authority of the Town Board of Henrietta. In 1969, the Fire Departments filed papers with the Town of Henrietta requesting the Fire District be set aside as a separate entity of Town Government and, by resolution of the Town Board, this was accomplished. The Henrietta Fire District operates under the laws of the State of New York. The Fire District covers approximately 39 sq. miles. It covers the entire
Town of Henrietta, also 20 miles of the New York State Thruway and 7 miles of
I-390. Station 1 - 3199 East Henrietta Road, owned by Henrietta Fire Company #1. Station 2 - 774 Erie Station Road, owned by West Henrietta Fire Department. Station 3 – 9 Riverview Heights, owned by Genesee Valley Fire Department. Station 4 – 850 Bailey Road, Headquarters of the Henrietta Fire District. Station 5 – 230 Pinnacle Road, owned by Henrietta Fire District. Station 6 – 60 Erie Station Road Extension, also Training facility of and owned by Henrietta Fire District.
The Board of Fire Commissioners The management of the District begins with the Board of Fire Commissioners.
The Board consists of five
Fire Commissioners,
each serving a five-year term. Each year there is an election in December for
one of those Fire Commissioner positions. Any registered voter residing in the
Henrietta Fire District can vote. All registered voters living in the Henrietta
Fire District are encouraged to vote. Typically, voter turnout is minimal,
with approximately 300 people, out of a population of over 40,000, voting in the
annual election. The duties of these Commissioners are to oversee the administrative
operations of the department. Duties include but are not limited to: setting a
budget and adjusting taxes to meet needs, maintenance and purchase of buildings,
fire apparatus, and equipment, personnel matters, setting administrative
policies, etc. In short, you entrust this Board to protect you and your family
from immediate life threatening and property destroying emergencies, while
maintaining prudent spending practices. The only pre-requisite to becoming a Commissioner is that all candidates must
live in the town of Henrietta. No knowledge of the fire service is
necessary. Currently, all five Commissioners are
volunteer fire fighters. One Fire District, Four Organizations, Who’s Who? The Fire District is the governing body commissioned with providing fire, rescue and emergency medical service to its residents. The cost for this service is paid for through the collection of your tax dollars. The Henrietta Fire District does not solicit funds through mass fund drive mailings. Any fund drive mailing you may receive is from one of the three social organizations (volunteer companies), and any monies collected do not go to the Henrietta Fire District and are not used to provide fire protection or emergency service to you or your families. The Fire District employs the career personnel. The career staff collective bargaining unit is the Henrietta Professional Firefighter and Dispatchers Association, and this association is also a member of the International Association of Fire Fighters. The Fire District is also comprised of three social organizations, or volunteer companies, that supply volunteer manpower to the Fire District. These companies are the Henrietta Fire Company No.1, the West Henrietta Fire Department, and the Genesee Valley Fire Department.
The Department is a Combination Fire Department. This means it consists of career and volunteer firefighters. Most
combination departments began as all volunteer, but as areas develop,
population’s increase, roads clog with traffic, and job roles expand, the
workload drastically increases. Combine that with members working out of the
area, the increased dangers in an ever- changing fire service, the higher
training requirements, and members having less time to volunteer, it is
understandable why a full volunteer service could not effectively protect the
needs of our residents.
When the career staff arrives at the scene of alarms we perform all facets of fire fighting with very limited personnel. The toughest and most critical part of most emergencies is the first few minutes. If, upon arriving on scene of a house fire, no volunteers have arrived yet, the first arriving career fire fighters responding on the engine or ladder company will enter the burning structure and start fighting the fire. All of the Career fire fighters are certified as New York State Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT) Basic. We are in house and always ready to respond. We provide Basic Life Support (BLS) level first response care to Priority 1 emergency medical calls (heart attacks, breathing problems, stroke and seizures) . We also respond to other emergency medical calls when the ambulance is delayed in responding. We respond to your house, in a fire truck, to help stabilize your life threatening illness or injury. The Henrietta Fire District was the first BLS first response fire department
in Monroe county to provide both EPI-Pen (Epinephrine) for allergic reactions and Albuterol treatments for asthma
patients by basic EMT’s. The Henrietta Volunteer Ambulance provides the
advanced life support and transport. Emergency medical calls make up
approximately 25% of our total call volume. This does not include responses to
motor vehicle accidents. Our job is to be prepared for, and when possible intervene in an emergency
situation. Our headquarters is staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365
days a year to assist you in your time of need. In addition to responding
to requests for assistance, we are also responsible for routine maintenance of
the vehicles, equipment, and fire station. These duties include truck
checks and repairs, equipment checks and repairs, and general housekeeping
duties in and around the fire station. Training is mainly given by our Municipal Training Officer. In addition to assigned videos to watch from our video library, we are given power point presentations and hands on training. Call Volume In over 13 years, there has been a 211% increase in emergency calls.
Becoming a Career Officer Career officers compete against their peers in a competitive civil service promotional exam. Upon promotion, each new officer is required to attend the Fire Department of New York, First Line Supervisor Training School at Fort Totten.
One of the many advantages of having career fire fighters on duty is that it reduces the response times to your door when you are in need of assistance. This response time becomes even more important when the situation involves a medical emergency and is directly dependant on the proximity of the call to the nearest first response unit. All of our career staff are certified Emergency Medical Technicians and are trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), defibrillation, as well as epinephrine and albuterol administration. These procedures increase the likelihood of survival when performed in a timely fashion. For more information regarding the response times and a manpower analysis of the station nearest you, please visit Your Local Fire Station.
Fire spreads exponentially, meaning it takes less and less time to continuously double in size.... in one to two minutes, the temperature in a room can exceed 700 degrees. Breathing air with a temperature of 150 degrees will scorch the lungs and cause death. A wastebasket fire in a downstairs room may take two minutes until an upstairs smoke detector activates. In three minutes that room may be fully involved. Upstairs and downstairs hallways may be impassable in four minutes. In five minutes the smoke, gas, and heat are deadly.
The District as Tenants The Fire District owns three of the six fire stations. The District rents apparatus bays and office space from the three volunteer companies at an approximate cost of $48,000 per year. Incentive Program A public vote in 1990 allowed the Fire District to initiate an
incentive program, called Service
Awards ($75,000 for 2004) to recruit and
retain more volunteers. By this vote of approval, volunteers who respond to a
certain percentage of the calls are paid a pension when they retire at age 65.
Depending on years of service this pension can be as high as $800.00 per month.
The Fire District has invested over $1,400,000.00 for this program since it was
started.
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