Lake Placid and the surrounding areas are very fortunate to have skilled, caring and community-minded people, both paid and volunteer. Without their rapid and skilled response an entire neighborhood could be endangered vs. just one structure. A lot of people say that Lake Placid has lost its sense of community. I would disagree. I see people daily both paid and unpaid that are there when you need them quietly going about their business, looking for no recognition other than to be there when people need them. The team that fought the fire on Sunday, Feb. 18 is a great example of community — not just our community, but all the mutual aid responders that came to our aid.

A fire involves more than just the fire department. In this case, the department of public works shows up and helps with sanding of roads, plowing of snow and setting up hoses. The electric department is on scene to cut the power and an ambulance is on the scene in case they are needed. Another important group that is at a fire scene are the fire police. Fire police are most times long time members of the fire department that are no longer interior firefighters. The fire police job is to re-route traffic and close down roads to keep the public safe and to facilitate traffic that is needed at the scene.

Depending on the severity of the fire, a decision is made whether mutual aid is needed. In the case of Sunday’s fire, which started shortly after noon, the decision for mutual aid was made and Saranac Lake, Bloomingdale, Keene, Keene Valley, Upper Jay, Jay and Wilmington all responded. Saranac Lake responded with two teams — one went to the fire and the second team went to the firehouse to cover for other potential fire calls.

For more information on fire safety, go to the Lake Placid Fire Department’s social media pages on Facebook and Instagram. There will be many safety tips there that will help prevent future fires. Many fires are preventable if people just know the proper precautions to take.

As you can see, it takes many entities coming together to successfully fight a fire. Thank you very much to all who responded and kept this fire from being much worse than it was. Special thanks to all the mutual aid responders that came to our aid in time of need.

Art Devlin

Mayor

Village of Lake Placid