Archive: Around Town

The Ramada Inn in the Village of Lansing may have been the safest place in Tompkins County last Saturday when it hosted the annual Lansing Volunteer Fire Department Banquet.  The banquet is the one night in the year when local emergency responders  get to take an evening off to celebrate their accomplishments.

"The good thing is the dedication of the volunteers that are out there serving our communities day in and day out" Tompkins County Director of Emergency Response Lee Shurtleff told Lansing fire fighters and EMTs before swearing in the department's 2014 officers.  "These are the people that are out when it's zero degrees.  these are the people taking scores of hours of training. these are the people responding to calls way beyond anything we could have imagined even ten years ago.  For that your community and our county owes you a debt of gratitude.  We thank you for the service the Lansing Fire Department provides and we thank the leaders of the department for all the extra efforts you will be making in the year ahead."

In 2013 the Lansing department responded to 889 emergency calls, including 461 fire and 438 Emergency Medical Services calls.  Of those calls 15 volunteers responded to more than 100: Jason Berga, Chris Bray, Gary Brooker, Ashli Carlton, Larry Creighton, Rebecca Drake, Mariano Garcia, Nelson Golden, Mike Robinson, Alex Shehu, Tom Sill, and Kim Sweeney.  The top three responders were Trevor Brill, who responded 264 times, Casey Bordoni (377), and top responder for 2013 Darren Sill, who responded to 414.


The Chief’s award  hangs in Central Station with the names of emergency responders who are recognized for "of outstanding service, for going beyond the call of duty, for being there when it is not convenient, for going the distance and then a little further. We recognize these members."  This year's recipients are Jason Berga, Casey Bordoni, Trevor Brill, Gary Brooker, Rebecca Drake, Mariano , Nelson Golden, Terry Jackson, Joe Lisi, Traci Lisi, Mike Robinson, Alex Shehu, Darren Sill, Tom Sill, Tom Smith and Kim Sweeney .

Training awards went to Terry Jackson and Casey Bordoni.

Lynn Day, Jim Jackson Sr. Jim Jackson Jr. Dan Pine, Alex Shehu were recognized for five years of service in the department.  Tom Sill was commended for 30 years, and Rick Drake for 35 years of service.


Trevor Brill was named Rookie of the Year.  Larry Creighton was this year's Joe Ditty Joseph Award recipient.  The Dedication and Service award went to Gary Brooker.  Rebecca Drake was named EMS Responder of the Year.


Officers for 2014 are Chief Scott Purcell, Deputy Chief Brad George, 1st Asst. Chief Dennis Griffin, 2nd Asst. Chief Mike Drake, 3rd Asst. Chief Jamie Spencer, Captain Jason Berga, 1st Lieutenant Tom Sill, 2nd LT. Gary Brooker, 3rd LT. Mike Robinson, and 4th LT. Casey Bordoni.

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