EVANS MILLS, N.Y. -- The worst-case scenario in the world of volunteer fire service became reality Monday morning when there were no Evans Mills volunteers available to respond to a house fire in their district.
Smoke was spewing from the attic in the Timothy E. Smith residence, 29809 County Route 46 in the town of LeRay, at 8:27 a.m., and Jefferson County emergency dispatch put out the call to the Evans Mills and Fort Drum fire departments. In subsequent dispatches, fire units were alerted that a resident of the dwelling had gone back indoors to rescue a cat.
Fort Drum units arrived to fight the fire. The alarm was put out to Evans Mills two more times before finally, at 8:40 a.m., a dispatcher announced she was getting no response from Evans Mills. With the attic smoke becoming "heavy," Pamelia, Theresa, Calcium and Philadelphia volunteer companies were dispatched.
Joseph D. Plummer, county director of fire and emergency management, said Evans Mills Assistant Fire Chief Shawn Rutmanis notified dispatch at 8:32 a.m. that he was en route, and he arrived at 8:49 a.m. When he got there, one of his company's trucks had been driven to the fire, but there were no firefighters to operate it, Mr. Rutmanis confirmed.
It was Mr. Rutmanis who requested the dispatch of the four other volunteer companies, Mr. Plummer said.
At about the same time, other volunteer units were being sent to a grass fire in the town of Brownville.
"It's tough to get volunteers out on a Monday," Mr. Rutmanis said at the scene. Eventually, he was joined by nine other members of his department, he said.
As volunteerism continues to decline, fire officials have said it is getting more difficult to turn out responders, particularly during weekdays when members are at work.
There were no immediate reports of injury. Fire damage was confined to the upper half of the two-story structure, but there was smoke and water damage throughout. Mr. Smith has owned the 150-year-old house since August 2006.
Mr. Smith was sleeping in a downstairs bedroom when his companion, Lisa M. Heise, was outside working in the garden when she smelled smoke and initially thought it was coming from a neighbor who occasionally burns items in his yard. She then realized the smoke was coming from their house.
"I saw more and more smoke and I ran inside as fast as could to wake him up," she said.
Mr. Smith said he went upstairs to get the family's three cats but was able to chase only two of them outdoors before the heat and flames became too much for him. Firefighters saved the third cat, he said.
"The whole second floor is gone," Mr. Smith said.
Fortunately, Ms. Heise said, some of the family's most treasured items, family photos, were saved because she had spent time Sunday preparing to paint the living room and had taken them down and put them on the porch.
The house was insured, Ms. Heise said.
Copyright 2012 - Watertown Daily Times, N.Y.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
