Fire Agreements Will Be Formalized

Four area fire departments will formalize a practice that has been in place for years.

Oriskany Falls Fire Department Commissioner Dale Petrie showed a Memorandum Of Understanding to the Oriskany Falls Village Board last week.

“We’re doing it already,’’ Petrie said. “This puts it in writing.’’

The MOU is for the Oriskany Falls, Waterville, Madison and Deansboro fire departments to formalize a shared volunteer framework they have been using.

Calls in the daytime, in particular, can be hard to fully staff.

The practice and MOU explains that a firefighter from one of the other three departments can immediately respond to a call upon hearing a call for the fourth department.

This gives permission for individuals to respond as they can assist at a scene.

This response method is different from mutual aid, when an entire department is called to assist at a scene.

The MOU is being reviewed by the Village’s lawyer.

Once set, Oriskany Falls Mayor Colin Idzi and Oriskany Falls Fire Chief Russell Petrie will sign it.

Petrie said the host department will cover damaged equipment brought by the responding firefighters.

This will be personal protection gear only.

Idzi called this a good step to all four departments working together.

The four department chiefs recently met to put together the MOU.

Supervising municipalities or fire commissioner boards for each department will have to agree to the MOU as well.

Board members approved the 2027 fire protection agreements with the towns of ...