Oriskany Falls Volunteer Fire Department, Inc.

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The Mid-York Weekly 

Oriskany Falls / Community News

Thursday, March 6, 2008

A Message from Helen
If it wasn’t for the quick thinking of my wonderful son, Aubrey III, and the immediate response of the Oriskany Falls Ambulance Corps on Saturday, Feb. 23, instead of reading the news in my column today, you would be reading my obituary. 

They responded to my son’s 911 call in just a couple of minutes and found me in a situation that needed their immediate and professional attention.  They “brought me back” from death’s door and took me to St. Elizabeth’s Hospital where I was taken to the emergency and trauma department for treatment.  I am writing this column from the intensive care unit where I am receiving wonderful care. I am forever indebted to the Oriskany Falls Ambulance crew for saving my life and “bringing me back” more than once. I will never be able to thank them enough!  If you, my readers, would like to contribute to a worthy organization and know that it will be spent wisely, look no further.
Please send your checks to the Oriskany Falls Fire Department Ambulance Fund, Madison Street, Oriskany Falls, N.Y. 13425.
Who knows – it could be your life that they save next!
Helen Alberding can be reached at
821-6322 or fallsins@juno.com.

Fire strikes garage in Oriskany Falls

Observer-Dispatch
Posted Feb 29, 2008 @ 09:50 PM

ORISKANY FALLS — Dave Stewart Friday morning could only stand and watch firefighters extinguish the flames that just consumed his restored 1949 Chevy tow truck.

Several fire departments responded to the blaze at a garage on College Street.

Also destroyed in the fire was a restored 1983 Camaro. The cause of the blaze was under investigation Friday afternoon.

Oriskany Falls Fire Capt. Andrew Becker said the fire took about 45 minutes to bring under control.

HEATHER AINSWORTH / Observer-Dispatch
A fire destroyed two restored vintage vehicles Friday, Feb. 29, 2008, in a garage behind a home on College Street in Oriskany Falls. At least three fire departments - Oriskany Falls, Deansboro and Vernon Center - responded to the blaze. Dave Stewart, the owner of a 1949 Chevy tow truck watches as firefighters extinguished the blaze.

Physician's assistant: Something new every day

NICOLE L. CVETNIC / Observer-Dispatch
Physician Assistant Russ Petrie checks Mike Jones, a patient and St. Elizabeth Medical Center employee, during an examination in the Sub-Acute area of the Emergency Department at St. Elizabeth Medical Center in Utica.

By ANGELICA A. MORRISON
Observer-Dispatch
Posted Feb 18, 2008 @ 11:27 AM
Several changes have taken place in the health care industry since Russell Petrie started working at St. Elizabeth Medical Center 14 years ago.  More elderly patients are visiting the emergency room where the physician’s assistant works, he said.

RUSSELL PETRIE

Age: 40.

Position: Physician’s assistant at St. Elizabeth Medical Center’s emergency department.

Lives in: Oriskany Falls.

Education: Graduated from Albany Medical College and received a degree as a physician’s assistant. He also received his undergraduate degree in health science at SUNY Cortland.

Volunteer work: Serves as an assistant chief of the Oriskany Falls Volunteer Fire Department. He also is the paramedic and operations manager of the Ambulance Corp in Oriskany Falls.

“As the population in this area is growing older, you see more of them in the emergency rooms,” Petrie, 40, said.

Petrie’s work day usually lasts from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., and includes evaluating patients, recording patients’ health histories, formulating treatment plans and making treatment decisions in conjunction with the physician.

His job is to take some of the load off the physicians, he said.

“There’s something new every day,” he said. “There are different degrees of illness or injured people every day. There’s the very minor stuff — colds and flu — and then there’s car accidents and chest pains.”

Petrie said the emergency department has gotten busier overall.

“More people are using the emergency rooms as a place of primary care or because of the lack of health insurance,” he said. “You do the best you can. At times it’s very busy and people have to wait sometimes. We try to do the best we can to see the patients quickly to take care of them.”

When Petrie is not working in the emergency department, he’s helping the Oriskany Falls Volunteer Fire Department save lives.

He is an assistant chief and also is the paramedic and operations manager of the Ambulance Corp. in Oriskany Falls.

“I started as a volunteer EMT when I was 18 years old, and I’ve been doing it ever since,” he said. “My family was big into the fire service.”

Petrie said balancing work, family and volunteer life is challenging. He has two children — Rachel, 11, and Benjamin, 8.

“They’re very active, and my wife, Kate, helps tremendously,” he said. “My family is very supportive of my volunteer work and what I do.”

Fire departments to receive grants
Jan 22, 2008 @ 06:56 PM
Observer-Dispatch
Oneida County Executive Anthony J. Picente Jr. Tuesday announced Oneida County is awarding grants to several fire departments and communities to address equipment.

Picente said the money comes from Oneida County's award from the state Office of Homeland Security Program. The funding of this grant is from the FEMA National Preparedness Directorate.

Those receiving grants are:

· Western Fire Department: $5,000 toward an emergency generator.
· Village of Oriskany: $5,000 toward an ATV to be used for rescues.
· Town of Steuben: $5,000 toward an emergency generator.
· Waterville Fire Department: $5,000 to use for training equipment.
· Oriskany Falls Volunteer Fire Department: $5,000 for equipment.
· Forestport Fire Department: $5,000 for equipment.
· Woodgate Volunteer Fire Department: $5,000 for equipment.
· Sherrill-Kenwood Volunteer Fire Department: $1,696 for pagers.
· Oneida Castle Fire Department: $5,000 for equipment.
· Vernon Fire Department: $5,000 toward an emergency generator.
· Verona Fire Department: $5,000 for equipment.

Waterville fire displaces 14
Jan 28, 2008 @ 06:50 PM
By RENEE GAMELA
Observer-Dispatch
WATERVILLE — The yellow Victorian-era house that went up in flames shortly after midnight Sunday is the first home Hannelore and Werner Goedeker bought together 18 years ago.

The couple surveyed the damage Monday morning at 180-182 Sanger Ave., where fire displaced 14 tenants. The Goedekers rented out the four apartments in the house, and the fire started in a first-floor rear apartment, Waterville Fire Chief Dennis Baldwin said.

The cause is under investigation, Baldwin said.

“How quickly things can go wrong,” Hannelore Goedeker said. “You lay in bed and hear the fire whistle, and the phone rings,” she said, her voice trailing off. “I'm glad nobody got hurt; that was our biggest concern.”

Waterville volunteer firefighters fought the blaze for about two hours, and fire companies from Clarks Mills, Deansboro, Hamilton and Oriskany Falls assisted, Baldwin said.

“My guys, they did an excellent save,” Baldwin said. “Basically they got in and pushed the fire back out to where it started.”

The fire chief also is a dairy farmer, who said he usually rises around 5:30 a.m. to begin his day on the farm. Monday, his chief duties kept him up all morning.

“We go at it, and then we go do our jobs,” Baldwin said of his firefighters. “That's what the volunteers signed up for, and that's what we do.”

The American Red Cross Utica Chapter Disaster Action Team arrived shortly after 1:30 a.m. Monday. Red Cross volunteers are providing housing to two adults and one child, spokeswoman Victoria Turner said in a news release.

Staff also was available throughout the day to provide immediate assistance of food, clothing, shelter and mental health counseling for families, Turner said.

The Godekers have insurance on the house, which sustained smoke and water damage in the front portion. Rear apartments sustained the most damage, Hannelore Goedeker said.

“Everything in the back is destroyed,” she said outside the home. “I don't think the building is a total loss; it just needs to be gutted out and redone.”

Hannelore Goedeker, a native of Austria, and Werner Goedeker, who has lived most of his life in Waterville, said they hope to restore the home.

“It's our baby because it's the first one we bought,” Hannelore Goedeker said.

About five years ago, she hand-painted the green, burgundy and white trim on the old Victorian house. She looked longingly at the building Monday.

“We can't replace somebody's life, but we can replace a building.”

Structure Fire - Sanger Ave., Waterville 01-28-2008