NewsThursday, January 12, 2012
Photo's are of Stephen and Carl receiving their certificates from Mike Healy (Training Coordinator for Rockland County Fire Training Center), Frank Bifulco (Instructor), Les Greenwood (State Fire), Orangeburg's 1st Assistant Chief Neil Lynady, and Orangeburg's Captain John Ahlf. Captain Ahlf is an Ex-chief of Orangeburg and a proud father of Carl Ahlf. Carl is the third generation of firefighters from the Ahlf family. Saturday, November 26, 2011
Thank you to our friends and Neighbors for coming out and supporting your parade. It looked like everyone had a great time and we appreciate your support as we do this for you and your families. We had some special guests again this year: Santa, Mrs. Clause and their elves showed up to the amazement of the children. We thank them for taking the time out of their busy schedule for the Orangeburg Volunteer Fire Department. We look forward to having you all at next year’s parade. A special thanks to all the fire companies that come out to share in this great event. Congratulations to the 1st Annual Orangeburg Fire District Parade winners. 1st Place Apparatus Sparkill (Dept 16), 2nd Place Apparatus Congers (Dept. 3), Non Fire truck Tappan & Pearl River (excelsior), Presidents Trophy Sloatsburg (Dept 15), Chiefs Trophy Mahwah (Company 3)
Friday, November 11, 2011
On Thursday morning, November 10, 2011, 44 Control recevied a call from Chromalloy Research that an"industrial machine" was burning inside their plant. While en-route 11-1 Chris Jackson was advised by Control that the caller stated there was working fire and the plant was being evacuated. A Chromalloy supervisor would meet the Chief on the Southside of the building.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
A Noreaster hit Rockland on Saturday afternoon, October 29th. At the beginning of the storm our volunteers were sent to Orangeburg Road and Old Orangeburg Road intersection for a head on collision. First on the scene 11-3, Pete Byrne, advised incoming units that it was a two car collision with one seriously injured. Byrne also requested EMS to expedite their response as well intentioned civilians were handing the patient.
The volunteers assisted our friends from EMS in removing the patient from his car to a waiting ambulance. Both drivers were taken to the hospital. The storm ended with the volunteers responding to a report of an explosion at Tappan Zee High School. In between the volunteers went out many times for wires and tress down. The explosion was a utility pole splitting in half on Dutch Hill road by Parkway Drive South. This knocked out power to the Orangetown Police, the Orangeburg Firehouse, and Tappan Zee High School along with many residences. Throughout the storm all three chiefs responded along with all of our apparatus. Wednesday, October 19, 2011
11-3 Pete Byrne Friday, October 14, 2011
The Orangeburg Volunteers were called to Aluf Plastics a little after 11 PM on Thursday, September 22, 2011. An eighteen wheeler making a delivery misjudged a guardrail and sliced open the fuel tank. Unfortunately the
11-1 Chief Chris jackson Friday, September 09, 2011
 On Friday evening, September 9, 2011, the Rockland County Volunteer Firemen's Association held their 99th Annual Convention. At the convention two of our volunteers were honored. Joe Craft, Life Member, received a plaque and several certificates marking his 50 years of membership in the RCVFA. These awards were presented to Joe by President Frank Voce and County Legislator Connie Cocker. Good job Joe and thank you for the many years of service to your community and to your neighbors!
A second recognition was for Brendan Fridhandler. Brendan along with fellow dispatcher Troy Spong were instrumental in saving the lives of several people in a New City house fire earlier this year. Brendan had taken the initial 911 call at 44 Control from a young lady who was trapped with her entire family. Realizing time was going to be a huge factor Brendan had fellow dispatcher Troy Spong start communicating with the young lady while Brendan started communicating with the responding fire department. Working as a team the dispatchers were able to communicate timely and efficient facts to the trapped family and the responding firefighters. In the end all trapped people were rescued by the New City firefighters. Brendan and Troy had previously been recognized for their efforts by the New City Fire Department and the Rockland County Fire Chiefs Association. Good job guys!!! Sunday, July 31, 2011
Friday, July 08, 2011
Early Friday afternoon on July 8, 2001, the volunteers were called to the Holiday Inn on Kings Highway. The buildings automatic alarm had signaled that there was a problem. First on the scene was the Orangetown Fire Inspector (Ex-chief from Pearl River) Doug Sampath. Doug entered the building and noticed a heavy smoke condition on the second floor.
Inspector Sampath passed this information to Captain John Ahlf the officer of the to the first due apparatus on the 11-1750. Captain Ahlf immediately called mutual aid from Sparkill for their RIT and Tappan for an Engine. Our crew from the 1750 entered the building and proceeded to the second floor while our crew from the 11-Tower went to the roof. The Roof Division found a work area above the area where the smoke was entering the 2nd floor. The crew on the roof located an area that was burning underneath the roof membrane. This is a very dangerous situation as the fire can literally run underneath the roofing material. Our crews were aware of this situation as we have encountered this type of fire previously at Aluf Plastics several years ago. A cut of the roof material prevented the fire from extending beyond its point of origin. The cooperation of Holiday Inn's management helped keep this fire relatively small and limited any future potential problem. A complete search of the wing was conducted and all visitors were evacuated. No injuries were reported even though the temperatures were around 90. Units on the scene
11-3 Pete Byrne
11-1750
11-Tower
Sparkill VFD (RIT)
Tappan VFD (Engine)
Blauvelt VFD (AMA for any additional alarms in Orangeburg's District)
South Orangetown Ambulance Corps
Orangetown Police Department
Deputy Fire Coordinator 44-5 George Drescher
Sunday, July 03, 2011
 On Wednesday morning, June 29, 2011, passerby's started calling in to 911 a heavy black smoke coming from the building located at 573 Western Highway in Tappan. First on the scene and the Incident Commander was Tappan's Assistant Chief Mike Healey. Chief Healey immediately called for Orangeburg's Tower and Sparkill's Fire Department's RIT - also known as a FAST.
Orangeburg went to the south side of the huge complex which became known as Division 3 during the event. One team of volunteers laddered the roof and performed roof operations while our second team entered the structure searching for victims and the fire. Our roof team performed vertical ventilation by removing skylights and extinguished the fire extension above the actual fire in the northeast corner, or the 1-2 corner. The interior crew assisted with the extinguishment of the main body of fire and then performed a secondary search of the office area. This call was extremely dangerous for the volunteers as we were dealing with various amounts of unknown chemicals. At first, Command kept everyone back from the building as the main electrical lines feeding the complex had been compromised. 21 Command, Mike Healey, did an excellent job on controlling a serious situation. The fire is under investigation with Orangetown's Fire Inspectors and the Rockland County BCI unit. Orangeburg Units at the scene - Assistant Chiefs 11-2 Neil Lynady, 11-3 Pete Byrne. The 11-Tower w/Captain Jonh Ahlf. Other departments at the scene - Tappan, Sparkill, Piermont, Blauvelt (RIT), Pearl River (RIT) and the Rockland County Hazardous Materials Team. The South Orangetown Ambulance Corp was joined by many different ambulance corps. These crews were available for any injuries and performed rehab for our volunteers Recent PostsTagsArchive |
On Wednesday, October 19th, our volunteers were called to New City to assist in finding a women who had been missing since the day before. Upon dispatch we were told to report to the FD staging area which was located on Little Tor Road in the parking lot of the closed Pasta Cucina Restaurant. The volunteers were briefed on the situation and then were given specific areas or "grids" to search. In all over 90 volunteer fire fighters from 8 different departments came cut to help. Fortunately the missing woman was located and reunited with her very grateful family. Orangeburg had eleven volunteers respond to this call for help. 
driver had just filled the tank in Connecticut. First fire apparatus on the scene was the 11-2000 and it's crew applied speedy dry and adsorbent pads to prevent the diesel fuel from entering the storm drains. While the crew was handling this function Chief Chris Jackson called for the County's Hazardous Material Team to the scene. Approximately two hours later the scene was secured and turned over to the Orangetown Police who waited for the Spill Contractor to clean the site. 
