After reading Mayor Devlin’s Guest Commentary to the Enterprise on Feb. 6, “Thank you to our Village employees,” I also wanted to express the Lake Placid Fire Department’s gratitude to the dedicated members of local fire departments and the different village employees who assisted in our most recent structure fire and many other fires in the past.

The structure fire on Jan. 28 was accompanied by sub-freezing temperatures and 20-mile-per-hour winds, which made extinguishing it even more difficult. The volunteer firefighters and paid fire drivers who responded spent nearly 10 hours on the scene trying to extinguish the blaze, which was hampered by the weather conditions. However, the scene may have been less manageable without the assistance of other village employees who arrived to help. Members from the village Water Department were on the scene within minutes of the initial call to help secure hydrants for our water supply and ensure they were flowing correctly. The Lake Placid Municipal Electric Department was called for, and crews were there quickly to help secure the power to the building, which made it safer for us to combat the fire at hand. Throughout the night and into the early morning hours, other employees caught wind of the situation and began arriving to see what they could do to help, which included getting diesel fuel for our apparatus that were pumping to capacity for the duration of the fire and needed to be topped off, as well as deploying portable propane heaters to keep the apparatus from freezing up with the brutal cold. Other employees helped pick up the fire hose and other equipment from the scene and ensured the trucks were ready to go again if needed. Members from the village of Saranac Lake also came to the aid with heavy equipment that was used during suppression efforts, and let us not forget the multiple other fire departments in our area that arrived to provide help.

The teamwork of all the village employees and volunteer fire personnel ensures many of our operations go well, and without their help, sometimes mitigating scenes would be delayed for longer than anticipated. Not only do these individuals give a lot of time to the community, but many do this while also taking care of their primary jobs and juggling their own lives. We are fortunate to have these individuals in our community who commit their time and effort to go above and beyond to help those in need. As Mayor Devlin stated, a small “thank you” goes a long way for these individuals, and we are thankful for them whenever a situation arises where extra help is needed.

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Justin Roy is the head fire driver for the Lake Placid Fire Department.