BALLSTON SPA - As part of a drill for the Halfmoon-Waterford Fire Department, a building went up in flames on Saturday.
The intense training is to try to keep every firefighter from injury, or losing their life in the line of duty.
"It was a little more really hot to see the flames going above your head kind of get nervous," said Austin Racca, a volunteer firefighter, dealing with a simulated burn for the first time since joining the department in June.
He says simulated or not, once inside, your adrenaline is pumping and it almost feels like you're inside someone's home or business.
"At first it was very nerve-wracking," Racca said. "Once you see it, you calm down. It's rather enjoyable."
Today's firefighters go through rigorous training. Racca will need hundreds of hours more in classroom and hands-on to be ready for the real thing.
Back in the old days, Assistant Chief Andrew Jensen says people used to show up at the firehouse, suit up and go to a real fire without any training at all.
"Training is very important," Jensen said. "(It) saves firefighters lives trying to keep the line of duty deaths down."
HALFMOON— His walk has slowed down quite a bit since he first raced to fight fires around town and he uses a cane for support but Leo Chevalier’s eyes still light up when he gets close to a working fire truck.
At 90 years of age he remains a member of the Halfmoon-Waterford Volunteer Fire Company he joined in 1936 as a 16-year-old. He is no longer an active member so he does not go to the fire scenes anymore when the emergency siren wails.
But Chevalier’s there at the station when they need him. He helps direct traffic or park cars for the company’s family days or he fills in the blanks
with a name or two when there is a question about the company’s history. The fire fighting unit was formed just 11 years prior to Chevalier’s arrival.
In July, the Halfmoon man was given the Firefighter of the Year award by the Hudson-Mohawk Volunteer Fireman’s Association at their annual meeting in Slingerlands. The organization covers an area from Ossining to Plattsburgh.
Chevalier’s name was submitted for the award by his Halfmoon neighbor, good friend, and fellow fire fighter John Holland. Holland is the fire company’s delegate to the Fireman’s Association. “Who better to get an award like that?” Holland said. “After all these years he deserves it.”
As he sat in the shade at his Guideboard Road home last week Chevalier recalled the early 20th century equipment the company used to fight fires. “ There were no fire hydrants so we had a truck and we would pull a chemical tank behind it in a cart,” he said. “We’d go slow ‘cause one of us would be in the back of the truck holding on to the truck with one hand and the handle of the cart with the other.”
The chemical tank Chevalier described still sits in its cart inside the Halfmoon-Waterford fire station. A small glass jar of baking soda was placed in the tank before it was filled with water. When tipped upside down at the fire scene the jar would break and the chemical reaction would drive the water out of the tank’s two inch diameter hose. When the tank was empty the fire fighters fought the fire with shovels or stepped back and let it burn out.
Eventually the fire company bought a used oil tanker for fighting fires. The company would drive the truck to the fire, set up a portable canvas pool and empty the tank’s water into it. A mobile pump was used to pump the water from the pool through the hose and onto the fire while the truck went to the nearest creek or farm pond and refilled it’s tank.
“We’d use the chemical tank for chimney fires mostly,” Chevalier said. “With grass fires we’d use “Indian tanks” on our backs, rakes and shovels. We got one dollar apiece for fighting a grass fire.”
With a larger fire like a barn fire Chevalier said the company could only protect the animals and try and keep the fire from spreading.
Sitting in the cool shade of his garage with two of his nieces and Holland nearby Chevalier recalled bits and pieces of local history. He speaks softly but rapidly and without hesitation. The events are interspersed with first and last names of the town folk who took part. Most are deceased, something Chevalier never fails to include in his description of an event.
One of nine children Chevalier was born in Cohoes. He said he joined the fire department because his father was a fire commissioner and one of his brothers was in the company. Looking back on his life he recalled his father packing the family up and moving back to the Province of Quebec, Canada when he was around 3-years-old. Shortly after the move his mother forced the family to return to Cohoes.
“It was too cold for my mother,” he said with a chuckle. “She told my father she was going home with or without him.”
Back in Cohoes,with its large French-Canadian population, Chevalier was enrolled in Catholic School where the classes were taught half a day in English and half a day in French. He still remembers his French breaking into a conversation at times with complete sentences in the language. As an adult he married his late wife Helen and the two had a daughter, Denise, who lives in Troy with Chevalier’s two grandchildren.
“The only swearing uncle Leo ever did was in French so no one would understand him,” said his niece Sandy Sturtevant.
After cutting ice for a time on the Mohawk River he went to work in Schenectady at the American Locomotive (ALCO) plant. When World War II broke out he went into the army as a medic though he had no formal medical training.
He recalls fighting in the Pacific theater but forgets the names of the specific battles where he saw action. Like many soldiers who have seen combat Chevalier refuses to discuss his war time activities. “None of us soldiers ever talk about what we did in the war,” he said.
After his discharge he worked for the U.S. Postal Department retiring in 1984 from the New Karner Road postal facility.
Walking around the fire station today his eyes twinkle as he approaches the shiny red fire trucks gently putting his hands on them and rubbing the polished steel and chrome. “I can’t get my leg up high enough to get in them now,” he said demonstrating the height of the truck’s step.
The man who once raced to local fires pulling a chemical tank behind a truck now walks gingerly around the big vehicles opening doors and describing all that he sees inside.
“When there was a fire back then someone would call Ella Mae Chouinere on the phone to report the fire. She would go next door to the fire house, break the glass for the siren, and push the button to set it off,” Chevalier said. “Then she’d write the address down on the chalk board so we’d know where the fire was when we showed up.”
Last Updated on Monday, 23 August 2010 14:49
Bottle and Can Drive to Support the Halfmoon Fire Company
Written by Andrew Jensen
Tuesday, 03 August 2010 01:49
The Halfmoon Fire Company will be holding our First Annual Bottle and Can Drive at our firehouse at 315 Middletown Road. We will be accepting CLEAN bottles and cans at our Station No. 1. Please leave clean bottles and cans in bags adjacent to our pavilion building and they will be sorted at a later date. All proceeds will support the Halfmoon Fire Company and its members. If you have any questions please contact
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.
With such a great turnout we've decided to make this a year long event for the benefit of the Halfmoon Fire Company and the members that protect you everyday.
Thanks you for all your Support so far and look forward to your continued support.
Last Updated on Friday, 13 August 2010 11:20
Welcome New Members!
Written by Andrew Jensen
Friday, 16 July 2010 16:10
The Halfmoon-Waterford Fire District would like to welcome and thank the following new members who have just joined our department:
Patrick Wauben
Austin Sacca
Michael Felthousen
Kevin Mehan
Shane Lynn
Eric Harwood
If you would like to join our department please contact
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. Download a pdf application and deliver it at your convenience or
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. Once we receive your application we will contact you for an interview. We need members of all ages 16 and up. We accept members as young as 16 years old but they are restricted in the activities that they can participate in, until they turn 18 years old. Parental consent is required for members under the age of 18.
Equal Opportunity Policy The Halfmoon-Waterford Fire District #1 does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin, religion, sex, age, or marital or parental status in the recruitment and admission of its members, in the admission of its policies and programs, or in the recruitment, appointment or election of its officers, employees, or members.
There will be zero tolerance for any drug, alcohol or any other illegal substance abuse by any member of the Halfmoon-Waterford Fire District #1.
Last Updated on Friday, 16 July 2010 16:31
Live Burn Training on June 29
Written by Andrew Jensen
Friday, 16 July 2010 14:40
The Halfmoon Fire Department conducted live burn training at the Saratoga County Fire Training Center in Ballston Spa on June 29th. The weather was cool which made is great for this type of training. Several burns were conducted that provided great opportunities for our firefighters to practice their firefighter skills. We have two more burns schedule one in July and one in the fall. Thank you to all the dedicated firefighters that attended. Do you have furniture you would like to donate for our live fire training please contact
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.
