By DAVID LEE
CHURCHTOWN—The Churchtown Fire Company no longer responds to medical or firematic calls, effective July 1. The territory typically covered by the company is now the responsibility of the Claverack’s AB Shaw Fire Company on Route 23 in Claverack, and the Taghkanic Fire Company on Route 82 near the Taconic Parkway, which will maintain its own fire district.
This comes as a result of the town boards of Claverack and Taghkanic having voted to dissolve the contracts that each of the towns had with the Churchtown Fire Company, contracts that provided for the creation of the not-for-profit Churchtown Fire Protection District, established 89 years ago when the Churchtown Fire Company was formed.
Fire companies typically have a fire district within which they respond to a number of types of emergencies. Structure fires are increasingly rare thanks to improved fire prevention technology building materials and awareness, but the auto accidents to which firefighters respond are actually increasing in number. Then there are fire alarm activations, EMS calls, wires and transformers down and other types of calls. With rural fire districts in which distance can have a life or death consequence, a fire protection district can be established. The advantage of a fire protection district is that a smaller company like Churchtown can respond more quickly. But companies like Churchtown’s do not have the tax revenue to support them, so they become contractors for the larger fire districts that hire them.
Citing the general lack of need for such an arrangement at a time when there are increasingly fewer volunteers, fewer fires, and higher costs involved in the operation of a fire company, Taghkanic voted to end their annual $58,000 contract on January 1 and Claverack voted to not renew their $112,000 contract on June 15.
Taghkanic Supervisor Ryan Skoda said that the town board had started the conversation in 2020. “We’d been trying to get information from Churchtown for years and never got a response. Eighteen months ago we started a process of redistricting.
“Eventually we did and the response confirmed our suspicion that they were lacking in firematic services,” he said.
The town voted December 23, 2023 to end the contract as of January 1, 2024.
“We didn’t want their firehouse to close, but we were paying an awful lot for firematic services we weren’t getting,” said Supervisor Skoda.
Claverack Supervisor Clifford “Kippy” Weigelt said that there are just not enough firefighters.
“I’m not saying that they weren’t doing their job,” he said, “I’m not a firefighter.” But he acknowledged that he must pay attention to cost and efficiency.
The process of assimilation or dissolution of fire companies is not unprecedented and is actually likely to be more common. About 20 years ago Copake dissolved two of its three companies, and in 2022 the West Ghent Fire Protection District was dissolved, with the territory now being covered by Claverack and Mellenville fire districts.
A statement provided by the Claverack Fire District Board of Fire Commissioners said, “For various reasons, the town no longer wished to contract with Churchtown Fire Company. Initial conversations were had with the Claverack Fire District Board of Fire Commissioners, and the Board of Directors for the Churchtown Fire Company as to how best to provide that fire protection.”
The statement went on to say, “Discussions about assimilating the Churchtown Fire Company into the Claverack Fire District were met with resistance from the Churchtown FC Board of Directors and were unproductive.”
The letter states that in 2023 a study was done by a third party agency to explore the “potential of cost effectiveness, impact on taxpayers and other logistical concerns that a consolidation would bring about.” The results of the study show “what many communities around the state and country have determined; that consolidation may be a viable option and a fiscally responsible way to provide fire protection in a world where volunteerism is at an all-time low and equipment costs are at an all-time high.”
The Churchtown Fire Company published a letter on its website saying that the Churchtown Directors and members express their displeasure with the decision. The letter points to the many ways that the CFC serves the community with its 16 active firefighters, from responding to emergencies to mutual aid calls and the many things for which the firehouse can be useful.
The letter concludes saying “We, the members of the Churchtown Fire Company do have concerns if the Churchtown Fire Company Fire Protection District is dissolved and excluded from the funding that we currently receive from the Town of Claverack and Taghkanic, and the services that we currently are able to provide to the people residing within our fire protection district.”
CFC Chief Bob Preusser finds a wry sort of rhyme in the fact that the company was formed on June 14, 1934 and on June 13, 2024 the contract was not renewed.
“It was poor the way the board handled it,” said Chief Preusser, “There should been better communication.”
“A study was done by an outside company who came up with five proposals but we didn’t have any input.”
Meanwhile Chief Preusser and the CFC formulated their own proposal, to which he did not get response.
“They said they don’t need the building— that it was too expensive,” Chief Preusser said. “They said they would rent the truck bays but we never got a number for the rental. Nobody called me to respond to my proposal.”
“This whole thing was discussed at town board meetings,” the chief continued, “I sent out 700 letters and I could count on one hand the number of people who showed up,” he said.
“I feel that something could have been worked out,” he said.
Chief Preusser, who is 71, said, “I’ve been at this for 48 years. I know the good things that we’ve accomplished. I’ve had a good time— it was a good run. Now I guess it’s time for something new.”
The chief has a lot of ideas about that. “We’re not dissolving our company yet. We sold one pumper to Mellenville which helps us both. We are setting up a corporation called the Churchtown Firehouse Community Support Center, Inc. We have contracted with the Columbia County Recovery Kitchen to use the firehouse kitchen to prepare meals to be delivered to vulnerable adults and children throughout Columbia County. We will continue to do functions and banquets, Taconic Hills High School scholarships and the firehouse will continue to be a Certified Red Cross Emergency Shelter.”
“We own our firefighting equipment and we will keep it for now,” he said. He envisions making one of the trucks into a canteen truck which could be very useful when there is an emergency scene that requires the provisioning of a lot of firefighters for a long period of time. And he still holds a flicker of hope, “I don’t agree with it but maybe something might change.”
Supervisor Weigelt and Chief Preusser both made the point that eventually fire companies will have to go to a paid per-diem service similar to the way that rescue squads work. Firefighters would be on call and paid when they go out.
