Fulton Oswego County Construction

Plainville fire department seeks to buy new truck while merger talks continue

Lysander, NY -- A fire engine waits in one bay of a steel barn just off Interstate 690 in the town of Lysander. It doesn’t meet today’s safety standards. If there’s a full crew of firefighters, some of them have to ride outside.

The Plainville Fire Department’s newest engine is 21 years old. It’s from a different time — when there were still lots of factory jobs, shift work and plenty of people to ride that truck. Now, that old truck and the department’s two others often wait for crews.

Just to keep Station 3 open, Plainville in January asked the Baldwinsville department to help answer that station’s calls, Plainville Chief Mike Stock said. The agreement is more than traditional mutual aid. Baldwinsville will automatically roll on any call to the station.

The Plainville department doesn’t know what its future holds. But it wants voters on July 19 to approve borrowing $150,000 over 10 years to pay for a new, $395,000 truck. The rest will be paid from the department’s savings.

The department is asking voters to invest in the status quo while the departments that serve the town contemplate major change. The Lysander Fire Department was already talking about merging with Baldwinsville, which is dipping into its savings to balance its budget. They are among seven departments in Lysander that are paying $27,500 for their own study, due out in November, to determine their future.

Should they share equipment or people? Should they combine departments and close stations? Across Central New York, fire departments struggle with these questions while they try to both anticipate the future and do today’s job.

The departments are on their own when it comes to making those choices: merge, shut down, expand or hang on. And any choice is a careful consideration of the concerns of people who are not paid and who give up their evenings and weekends for training and calls.

Despite a growing public discussion about consolidation, not much is happening. In Van Buren and Camillus, studies resulted in little change. The departments in Elbridge and Jordan were going to consolidate in the spring, but the plan was abandoned in about a week. Memphis and Warners merged this month, but the Warners chief has made it clear that day-to-day operations will stay the same.

In the Baldwinsville area, seven departments, including two from Oswego County, provide fire service for 64 square miles and 20,000 people. They own 16 fire engines, three ladder trucks, five heavy rescue trucks and three boats.

Oswego County, New York Amish

 Was founded by “Mose Miller” Swartzentruber Amish in 2006 (the Swartzentruber Amish , while seeming the same to outsiders, are in fact divided into three distinct groups).  Leo shares:

The Mose Miller Swartzentruber Amish community near Pulaski/Williamson New York in Oswego County continues to grow. Two years ago, the settlement had 25 families, mostly from Wayne County, Ohio. Now, there are 36 families, with more being added. They had been homeschooling, but now they have two schoolhouses, with another under construction.

This settlement remains at one district (36 families is a large district by Swartzentruber standards) , but will soon split into two districts. They presently have no bishop; a bishop from Heuvelton in St. Lawrence County has been presiding over this flock. They do have a deacon and other ministers, but have no bishop of their own yet. Much of this information came from an Amish lady who was selling baked goods at the Farmers Market in Pulaski on July 1.

I play guitar in a trio, which provided music in the gazebo in South Park in downtown Pulaski. The Farmers Market has been running for a few years and the Amish people have been selling there since they got the OK from the bishop. I was told by the coordinator of the Market that the Amish were at one time forbidden to attend by the bishop because of the music.

The Amish were set up well away from the speakers. I asked the Amish lady if the music bothered her and she indicated that it did not. Two years ago when we played at this event, two Amish ladies were there and I noticed that one of them kept on walking in front of the bandstand. I suspect that she enjoyed the music. We play mostly old Country and Oldies at this event because it seems to be what people in and around Pulaski enjoy.

Before i had left New York state for Florida i had heard about New York having an Amish community, that was in the 1980s so I’m sorry that i didn’t take a trip up to give that Amish settlement a look. From the images that I’ve seen its a very beautiful area as most of upper New York would be. And I’ve read recently that one reason the Amish in New York are growing is the reasonable farmland, for example in Lancaster county an acre of farmland is approximately 15,000 dollars per, while in upper New York state its about 2,000 per acre. Big difference especially if your buying 50 acres or more. Richard from www.Amishstorys.

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