Pulteney fire department receives donations for AED, water rescues

PHOTO PROVIDED Pictured above, Dan Radigan, Lisa Stone, Barbara Schusler, Edward Schusler, Carl Stone, Ken Forenz and Nancy Snyder pose with the deprtment's new automatic external defibrillator, purchsed through a donation from the Schuslers.

The Pulteney Fire District recently held a reception in which members received a donation from Keuka Lake residents Edward & Barbara Schusler to purchase an Automatic External Defibrillator for the firehouse.

After attending many of the firemen's community Sunday pancake breakfasts, the Schuslers asked whether the fire department had an AED inside the firehouse. After speaking with Fire Department President Carl Stone and his wife, Lisa, on several occasions throughout the early breakfast season they decided that they would donate the money for the instrument so that in the event of an individual suffering a heart attack, the AED would be nearby.

The fire department also recently teamed with Rural Health Community Systems, which supplied an alarmed AED box to mount on the wall in the entrance-way of the firehouse. If the box is opened to access the AED, an alarm sounds to alert others in the building to call 911 for help.

Fire department officials hope to equip the AED cabinet with an automatic dialer that will notify the Steuben County 911 Center that the AED cabinet door has been opened. This is particularly useful in situations where additional people are not available to call for help, as well as reducing the amount of time between the moment the cabinet door is opened and when the ambulance is called to respond.

The Fire District and Ambulance Corp. also recently received donations from North Country Contractors and Gibson Excavating that were used to purchase ResQ Discs that have been placed in all of the fire chiefs' vehicles and all fire and ambulance apparatus.

The ResQ Disc is a Frisbeestyle plastic disc that has approx 100 feet of high tensile rope, used as a life saving, throwable device for water rescues. In addition, two discs were purchased to be dedicated for use on their fire/rescue boat. The fire department is currently raising money towards their boat in hopes to have the craft on the water in the spring of 2008.

Anyone wishing to make a donation toward the Fire/Rescue Boat Project can contact the firehouse by calling 607-868-3003 or by mail at P.O. Box 35, Pulteney, NY 14874.