Letter from the chief

October 2009

Dear Fellow Residents of the Dexter Volunteer Fire and Ambulance Service Area:

It seems hard to believe that a year has passed since we conducted our 2008 fund drive for the Dexter Volunteer Fire Department. With the exception of the 1998 Ice Storm, in 2008 we responded to a record number of fire and EMS calls (505 Calls).

Once again, we are extending our mailing beyond Dexter’s fire service area, to include the areas covered by the Dexter Volunteer Fire Department Ambulance, which includes both Brownville and Glen Park. It is with the invaluable assistance from these departments that we were able to successfully answer over three hundred and eighty-four EMS calls in 2008.

This past spring, we held our 130th Annual Firefighters’ Banquet. This represents over a century and a quarter of volunteer service to our area. Serving our residents takes time and money. We receive some funding from the village, and from contracts with the Towns of Brownville and Hounsfield, but this amount falls about thirty percent short of the annual cost of maintaining our equipment and supplies. We are forced, therefore, to conduct fund raising activities, like this, to make up the shortfall in our annual budget.

This year, we also find ourselves at the beginning stages of replacing our 1989 front line pumper. This vehicle has served our coverage area for almost two decades and is in need of replacement. In addition, we face the continued increase in the expenses of maintaining our vehicles and of meeting the many unfunded mandates passed down by state and federal authorities.

We appreciate that economic times are difficult, and it is difficult to ask anyone for money. Please remember that the volunteer fire service helps to keep our municipal fire and ambulance budgets to a minimum. We again have no desire to take monies away from the fire department that serves your area by extending our mailing. We are merely asking for help in maintaining the ambulance that we all use.

We truly appreciate anything that you can donate to help us maintain our fire fighting and ambulance service.

Sincerely yours,

Timothy S. Shear, Fire Chief

Dexter Volunteer Fire Department

Station One,Two