This past Saturday, on September 14th, 2019, the Canton Fire Department celebrated its 150th anniversary. The Canton Fire Department has played a significant role in preserving local communities and saving lives for a century and a half, not only in Canton, but throughout St. Lawrence County. According to Atwood Manley, who documented the first century of Canton Fire’s history, in 1969, Canton was “rated as one of the two top ranking volunteer departments in New York State”. Today they are still seen as a heavily involved department, in which many of our own peers serve as volunteers. Volunteer fire departments have served an important role throughout history, for Manley states that, “communities serviced by volunteer departments do so at an average cost per person of $2.25 per year per person compared with an average cost of $13.69 for those serviced by the professionals” (statistic from 1969).
Matthieu Coté, class of 2022, joined in January of 2019. He said that he had heard about student involvement from a senior that he knew, and had explained to me that there are approximately 7 St. Lawrence Students that are involved with the Canton Fire Department. These students usually have pagers on them and can respond to calls when they are available. He said that since he has joined he has responded to about 75 calls, some of which were local, but some of which were within surrounding areas, around 5-10 of them being calls from campus. The majority of fires that they respond to are not full structure fires, but mostly vehicle fires and smaller fires. He said that the last full structure fire was Dairy Queen, approximately two years ago. This fire was also arson, which was not preventable. This is due to the fact that Canton has a great fire prevention program, making full structure fires less common. The Canton Fire Department participates in mutual aid, in which he explains “We don’t just respond to calls in Canton, we also assist other surrounding areas with fires whenever we are available to do so”. Coté tells me that if students are interested in getting involved they have to go online to cantonfiredepartment.com and fill out and mail in an application. After the application has been processed, the interview process will begin and those interested must follow through with a physical. Coté calls the Canton Fire Department a “home away from home” and encourages others to join.
On Saturday, a big celebration was put on to celebrate 150 years and the commitment that volunteers have for the department. A parade was put on at noon, in which 50 or so trucks from Canton and surrounding communities made their way through downtown Canton. Awards were given to different volunteers at a ceremony proceeding the parade and ice-cream and food was provided as well. People were able to get tours of the fire house and children got to view the trucks up close. Bounce houses and obstacle courses were set up for the children and a firework show was put on shortly after dusk. This celebration was just a small act of gratitude for the volunteers and the support received from the community and serves as a testament to how strong of a community that Canton is. If you’re interested and have experience feel free to find an application online or talk to someone on campus that is involved, the more the merrier!
Chapel Fire, North Country Public Radio, 2013