JOHNSBURG, N.Y. -- A firestorm has erupted in Johnsburg after the defunct Wevertown Fire Company sold at least two of its trucks as the town scrambled to get a restraining order to stop the asset sell-off.
The town and Wevertown Fire Company have been on a collision course for months, after the Town Board withheld the department's funding because of serious safety concerns.
Wevertown Fire Chief Jarrett Brown announced in March the company's closure.
Brown went ahead with a "fire sale" late last week of vehicles, firefighting gear and radios, officials said, even as the town rushed to block the equipment sell-off. Town officials cited state law that says fire equipment purchased with taxpayer funds must be given to a "like" organization.
"All I know is all of us said, 'We better stay away from that,'" said Warren County Fire Coordinator Brian LaFlure, referring to a recent conversation with area fire chiefs about Brown's upcoming sale.
The town scrambled to get a temporary restraining order to stop the sale, Supervisor Ron Vanselow said.
But the company's three trucks, which were bought primarily with the annual $38,000 town subsidy, were gone when the restraining order was delivered, Vanselow said.
"We've been told that the last truck left only hours before we got there," Vanselow said. "I don't know. Maybe it's just a coincidence."
Brown couldn't be reached Wednesday for comment.
Brown told the Town Board in June that the firehouse and all of the not-for-profit company's assets belong to the two remaining members, Brown and his wife, and that he intended to liquidate all of the department's belongings.
Now, town officials want to know where the money went.
"I'm assuming to the guy with the checkbook," Vanselow said of Brown.
Two of the trucks have been sold, but to who remains unknown, officials said.
The department's third truck was apparently repossessed for lack of payment, officials said.
The former Wevertown firehouse belongs to the company, according to county tax records. But town officials believe that it must also go to another local department as part of the Wevertown company's disbandment. Town officials have been eyeing the site as the potential new home of the Johnsburg Rescue Squad.
Most of the defunct department's other equipment hadn't been sold when the restraining order was delivered, Vanselow said.
The town plans on padlocking the building, Vanselow said.
Questions about the Wevertown Fire Company's finances have swirled for years. The company's heat was shut off last year because its fuel bill hadn't been paid, local fire officials said.
The other six fire companies in Johnsburg have been covering Wevertown under automatic mutual aid since the Wevertown department folded. Johnsburg's fire officials have been under increased pressure recently as the Bakers Mills-Sodom Fire Company's firefighting practices have come into question.
Copyright 2012 - The Post-Star, Glens Falls, N.Y.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
