By GAYLE FRATTO
SVFD Asst. Chief
I hope this article finds everyone enjoying their holiday season. It’s been an extremely busy month for us at SVFD. Unfortunately, we have really been logging a large number of calls this month. Therefore, for December, I want to take the opportunity to thank some people that continually do so much for the benefit of the Shinnston Fire Department.
First, I want to recognize these members who “sleep in” at the fire department on a nightly basis. Dustin Smith, Taylor Thompson, TJ Carlucci and Nick Young consistently pull themselves out of their warm beds on a nightly basis to render aid to our community. There are many nights where they wake up for calls multiple times, return to the station and leave for work. The work of this crew is an invaluable service to our fire department and neighbors.
With a recent string of significant call volume, I was reminded how lucky we are to have mutual aid departments that we can count on for help. It’s a great feeling seeing all of our brothers and sisters from neighboring departments work so well together.
Last, but not least, the SVFD would like to thank our community. We cannot express enough about how much your support means to us. Many of our members still talk about seeing the signs of support during this year’s emergency services parade.
The fire department recently held its annual Christmas dinner. During the dinner, we were happy to present a “Friends of the Fire Department” award to Leigh Merrifield at The Shinnston News & Harrison County Journal and Matt Post. Leigh has always gone out of her way to support the fire department with publicity, as well as campaign for others to support us. Matt went out of his way to imbed himself in the fire department’s flood relief operation this year. We could not have functioned as efficiently to get help to people without his dedication and assistance.
The Shinnston Fire Department wishes you all happy and safe holidays. Please stop by and visit our Facebook page at ww.facebook.com/ShinnstonFire.
