Upcoming Wawaka Lake 5k will Help Support Local Firefighters

HALCOTTSVILLE — On Saturday, August 22nd, the annual Wawaka Lake 5k run/walk, run by the Halcottsville fire department, will take place. This event has been going on for more than 15 years, originally beginning as an event to raise funds for breast cancer research. The event has been taken under the wing of the Halcottsville Fire Department, but over the years has served as a fundraiser to create scholarships for local students, raise money for local food banks, and raise money for a variety of charitable organizations. Returning this year in the hamlet of Halcottsville, participants can run or walk the five kilometers around Wawaka Lake, with a community pancake breakfast at the end. Other activities include a kids dash, DJ, raffle, and of course, prizes for the winners in each age category.

This year, the event will help raise money for the fire department of Halcottsville, which is made up of devoted volunteers. While the Fire Department does have a budget funded by local taxes, their budget does not cover everything, including things like uniforms, upkeep, and painting of facilities, and future fire department events. The Halcottsville fire department, which is combined with the Margaretville fire department, responds to around 120 calls per year. These calls can range from house fires to motor vehicle crashes, to assisting ambulances. Steve Finch, a member of the Halcottsville fire department for around 50 years, explains the essential role the fire department plays in emergency service. “If the ambulance has a call where they need help getting a patient out of the house, somebody's going off a trail somewhere and they need to be rescued from a hiking incident, or an ATV incident, the fire department responds to those calls.”

Due to dwindling numbers of volunteers in the area, the Fire Department of Halcottsville has joined forces with the Margaretville fire department. “We’re down to really about 10 or a dozen active firefighters.” However, not all of these volunteers can respond to every call. “Not everybody's in Halcottsville when the siren rings, so it's a matter of who's around and who can go.” Other towns in the area struggle with the same problem. Though the Halcottsville fire department has only merged with one other town, most towns in the catskills area struggle with low numbers of volunteers, so they have created a mutual aid program. This helps get more firefighters and trucks to the site of large fires, by calling on the fire departments of neighboring towns. “Roxbury, Andes, we've gone as far as Stanford on occasion for big calls.It really depends on the time of day. During the day when people are working, It's more difficult to get people out, whereas at night, when people are home, it's easier to get folks to be able to go out.”

While firefighters don't help us every day, when they do, it counts. A fire department can be the difference between a home and ashes, and between life and death. Around 65% of firefighters are volunteers, including the ones in our own towns, which is why it’s so important to show up and support them. As the number of volunteers are dwindling, they need all the help they can get. Whether it's volunteering to become a firefighter, joining the Auxiliary team to support the volunteers and community, or buying a ticket to the Wawaka Lake 5k, everything and anything helps keep our homes and communities safe and sound.