Hinsdale Fire Department/District response to

[Guest raf1234]

This is a letter that went to our residents regarding the article in the Syracuse Post Standard regarding some of the fallacies in the article. We gave a statement to the reporter which is also attached, that she also chose not to use. When we received our initial phone call from the reporter, she stated it was regarding consolidation of fire departments. As you can see, this was not the case. Please feel free to contact us with any questions at hinsdalefiredistrict@yahoo.com. (I apologize for the extra spaces in the letterhead, etc., they do not show in the actual letters but I couldn't get them off of this page)

Hinsdale Fire District #1

Salina Consolidated Fire District #1

113 Malden Road

Mattydale, New York 13211

February 7, 2009

Dear Hinsdale Residents:

On behalf of the commissioners and volunteers of the Hinsdale Fire District, it is with great conviction that we write to you, our residents. As each of you has no doubt read, the Post Standard published an article titled "Mutual Contempt: When fire departments can block each other from calls, is there any hope for change". We want to address the many fallacies and lies contained in this article and provide the truth on certain issues.

We also want to ensure the public that despite the Post Standard's attempt to disgrace our volunteers, our volunteers remain committed to your protection.

The public should be aware that the fire district refused to become part of the Post Standard's attempt to publicize the dispute between the Hinsdale and Mattydale Fire Districts. Although the two districts and departments have their differences, these differences are not the subject for a newspaper story. Instead, the Hinsdale Fire District has attempted to conduct its affairs with regard to the Mattydale Fire District in a private and professional manner. Public accusations serve no one. The Post Standard obviously was not happy with our attempt to keep our differences quiet.

The Post Standard's author, Marnie Eisendtadt, contacted us, your commissioners, demanding that we answer accusations from certain of Mattydale's firefighters and/or chiefs. Your commissioners advised Ms. Eisendtadt that we refused to engage in a war of words with Mattydale and would not address any alleged attacks on our district. We also refused to in any way attack our brothers and sisters in the Mattydale Fire District. It has always been and still remains our intent to take the "high road". This was apparently not satisfactory to the reporter.

Your commissioners did, however, provide written answers to each of Ms. Eisendtadt's questions regarding the fire on May 15, 2007 so that there would be no way to confuse our words. Despite the fact that this fire was over a year and a half old, we provided complete disclosure to her questions. Unfortunately, she ignored our answers and the truth, and instead printed what is in our opinion incorrect and misleading information. Moreover, we believe that she completely disregarded the facts and instead chose to believe an irate resident who apparently could not tell the truth either.

The reporter intentionally omitted the first line of a September 19, 2006 letter from the Mattydale Chief to Hinsdale's Chief, which stated "I am requesting that you remove Mattydale FD apparatus from any/all of the box alarm responses you no longer wish us to respond to". Hinsdale only removed Mattydale from its first response box alarm after this demand was made by Mattydale's chief. How is it that the reporter failed to state this fact?

For example, the resident reported to the Post Standard that "Hinsdale arrived first as flames shot through the roof". As can be seen from the attached photograph, flames never penetrated the roof. The reporter also blatantly mis-reported that the house "burned to the ground". In fact, the house stood for a year after Hinsdale and Lyncourt saved it.

Although the Post Standard reported that Hinsdale arrived eight minutes after dispatch, we provided the reporter with our records evidencing that our first piece of apparatus was en route two minutes after we were dispatched and arrived two minutes after we were en route. It did not take our apparatus eight minutes to arrive. A four minute response time is simply phenomenal.

Instead of utilizing our records to show when the Lyncourt Fire Department arrived, the reporter stated that she could not determine when Lyncourt arrived. We knew and we advised the reporter that Lyncourt arrived seven minutes after dispatch and only a few minutes after Hinsdale arrived. Moyers Corners arrived at the same time and North Syracuse fire department arrived only ten minutes after dispatch.

The Post Standard's original article published soon after the actual fire reported the Sheriff as stating that Hinsdale's vehicle crashed into the house six minutes after the fire was reported. According to our records, that would be at about 9:24. Lyncourt had arrived at about 9:25 and the Hinsdale and Lyncourt firefighters quickly utilized the hose from Lyncourt's vehicle to rapidly extinguish the fire. For some reason, these times were not utilized by the Post Standard, despite being referenced in its original article.

The Post Standard also makes it seem as if the four fire departments on scene of the fire required additional assistance from Mattydale. When Mattydale and another department arrived they were only needed to assist in clean up, such as by rolling up the hose. The fire had long since been extinguished.

The reporter also paints the individual that moved our fire engine from the house as a hero. This person was not a hero. In fact, he could have created a much dangerous situation for the home owner by removing the vehicle which could have been shoring (stabilizing) the porch. Moreover, our maintenance personnel could not determine the cause of the run away vehicle because the individual never identified himself. Thus, we could not determine the position of any of the gears, brakes or transmission. This person only came to light in the article. If he was so proud of his actions, he should have identified himself to the fire department instead of hiding for over a year.

The Post Standard appears to be trying to punish Hinsdale for refusing to speak, by publishing such quotes as "Monkeys could have put the fire out better". Such hateful statements have no place in an objective media, especially when the owner's recant of the story was in blatant disregard for the truth.

It is no secret that it is difficult to recruit and retain volunteers not only in this community, but throughout our country. Articles such as this make it almost impossible to recruit anyone, as no one desires to be the subject of attacks by neighbors or the media. If the goal of the Post Standard was to impede the progress of your fire department in its recruitment efforts, we are pleased to announce the newspaper failed. Four new members have joined us since the article.

The apparent goal of the Post Standard was to get the idea of consolidation on the tongues of residents. If this was the goal, there is nothing more the newspaper could have done to push two departments farther apart.

The Hinsdale Fire District wishes to commend its firefighters for their continued commitment to protecting our residents, and more-so after being assaulted by the Post Standard. We urge the newspaper to pay closer attention to the facts and refrain from attempting to punish any fire department from not airing its private disputes.

We thank the community for its continued support.

The Hinsdale Board of Commissioners

The Hinsdale Volunteer Fire Department Officers & Member

Hinsdale Fire District #1

Salina Consolidated Fire District #1

113 Malden Road

Mattydale, New York 13211

August 7, 2008

Marnie Eisenstadt

The Post Standard

Clinton Square

Syracuse, New York 13221

Dear Marnie:

Due to the inability to be able to schedule a date for us to meet as a group in a timely manner, we are issuing this statement regarding your story on consolidation:

"The fire district commissioners must represent the best interests of its residents. The district's only interest is to provide the best fire protection at the most reasonable cost. Consolidation is a word that has no definition in the fire service. While the commissioners are open to any ideas that improve fire protection or reasonably reduce costs, before we prematurely consider any solution, we must first define the problems we face in our area. Discussing an alleged solution such as consolidation is simply premature without first defining the problems. Once the problems are identified, we should propose solutions and then look at the impact and cost of those solutions. The commissioners would be happy to attend any meeting at which our involvement is requested to examine any fire protection issues. If the news is looking to obtain negative comments about our brother firefighters, we will not participate in any such process or interview."

Sincerely,

Hinsdale Fire District #1

Board of Fire Commissioners

photo of house

letter_res_marnie.doc