Thank You Croton's Bravest

Over the past two weeks, the Croton area has seen two major weather events that most of us won’t soon forget.  The Super-Storm Sandy came in to town with ferocious winds that downed countless trees, telephone poles, electrical and other service wires.  

Anticipating this landmark event, the members of the Croton Fire Department – which is entirely volunteer – began manning our three stations on the afternoon of October 29th with close to 70 of our bravest.  While the formal standby details were ended Tuesday afternoon, our men and women continued their responses to dozens of calls for help in the days that followed.

In addition to the three dozen plus downed wires / trees incidents we answered on just Monday night, our dedicated volunteers also handled these incidents with the same professionalism each and every time that night.

         * Crews answered more than a half dozen calls for trees fallen on to homes in the Village and Mount Airy areas.

         * A female and her two dogs were pulled from their car on Riverside Avenue after it was submerged in flood waters.

         * Two adult females and two children were removed from their home on Brook Street for fear of flooding via our inflatable rescue boat and transported by Croton EMS to the Municipal Building Community Room.

         * Firefighters found a serious propane leak coming from a home on Nordica Drive when a fallen tree limb damaged the tank.  Members quickly mitigated the potentially explosive situation.

         * Crews were spread out along major roads in the Village and Town of Cortlandt and tasked with removing downed trees to allow emergency vehicle access to several emergencies.

On Wednesday, November 7th, what has been dubbed “Winter Storm Athena” came into town and – fortunately – didn’t wreak as much havoc as some earlier predictions called for.  Again, anticipating the inclement weather, dozens of CFD Volunteers were placed on standby Wednesday evening until early Thursday morning.

During the time period of 10/29 until this writing on 11/8, your all-volunteer Croton Fire Department has responded to 75 plus incidents.  That’s your neighbors, friends and family dropping everything to answer the call for someone in their time of need.  A tradition we have done proudly and professionally for over 120 years.

As the head of this amazing group, I wanted to share this information with everyone and show you all how much our organization does behind the scenes and often without acknowledgement.   I could not be prouder of the folks that I have been chosen to lead, and to all of them I want to say thank you.

The next time you see a fire engine on your street, or see one of our members in the grocery store (usually wearing a Croton Fire Department jacket or hat), take a moment and thank them for what they do.  Your gratitude, and the pride in what we do is what drives us.

With sincere appreciation,
John M. Munson

Chief of Department Croton Fire Department