DRYDEN – Six weeks after cutting back to five fire departments serving Dryden by stopping funding for the Brooktondale department, the Dryden town board further shrunk its roster of departments to four.
The Town Board voted Thursday to extend the contracts of departments based in Freeville, Varna and central Dryden, but a proposal that would have funded the Etna Fire Department for 2025 failed for the lack of a second. Town Supervisor Jason Leifer made a motion that the remainder of the five-member board fund Etna’s department.
The board’s response? Silence. That killed the proposal to fund Etna’s department. Now, Leifer said, the board “will have to deal with the coverage” questions affecting people living in Etna’s district. Varna and W.B. Strong Co. in Freeville neighbor Etna’s district.
The largest portion of the town is served by the village of Dryden-based Neptune Hose Co.; Neptune also is home to Dryden’s ambulance service. W.B. Strong and Varna serve western Dryden. The town contracts with McLean’s fire district to provide coverage to northeast Dryden.
“No resident will go without fire protection right now,” Deputy Supervisor Dan Lamb said. “We have coverage.”
Town Fire Coordinator Chris O’Connor had recommended that the town not contract with Etna for 2025, board minutes from Nov. 21 show. O’Connor suggested the town split the $173,500 Etna had requested between Freeville’s W.B. Strong Co. and the Varna Fire Department, which neighbor Etna’s district to the north and south, and assess the change at mid-year.
“There is a significant part of the town that by the goodwill of the Varna and Freeville departments is getting emergency coverage,” O’Connor said in November. Calls for fires in Etna’s district are routinely toned out to those departments as mutual-aid calls.
Before the board voted, Michelle Robinson, representing the Etna department, accused O’Connor of failing to meet with the Etna firefighters. She asked that the department be awarded its original request of $248,500. She also denied that the department provided no response to 80% of its calls in the past year.
“We don’t appreciate the proposed contract changes,” she said.
The board also took some flak from three town residents who spoke at a public hearing on fire department funding and voiced concerns about Brooktondale.
“I’m concerned there was no public hearing,” resident Vince Monticello said.
Varna’s department took over the area served by Brooktondale’s department after Dryden decided Oct 30 to part ways with the department. Board member Christina Dravis said Varna’s department employs a shift system. Varna also has “bunker” firefighters on duty at its station.
Said Varna Chief Mason Jager: “I think the fire response (time) is significantly enhanced.”
