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Wellsville’s junior firefighters are the future of the department BY KATHRYN ROSS
WELLSVILLE — As volunteer fire departments struggle for new members, in some communities youth are coming to the rescue. Over the last decades volunteer fire departments like those in Wellsville have found it increasingly difficult to recruit new members. Husbands and wives both work outside the home, lead busy lives and cope with kids and other family responsibilities. The once thriving ranks of volunteers has shrunk overall, and the fire departments have been the hardest hit. But the sirens still sound and the tones go out calling for volun-
Photo provided Members of the junior firefighter program in Wellsville go through a training exercise.
teers to respond to a house fire, automobile accident, a person in the river or a cat up a tree. Volunteer firefighters are unpaid as small communities can’t afford to pay volunteers
while also supporting the needs of a fire department. So, Wellsville and other local departments have found a way to recruit new members and train them through feeder programs that
attract boys and girls as young as 13. As they mature, they go through most of the training they need to become active firefighters. At 16 they are eligible to join a fire company and at 18 they can become a full-fledged interior firefighter after successfully passing state tests and requirements. Wellsville’s junior firefighter program got started just over a year ago after Kevin Fleischman, former chief and captain of the Dyke Street Engine Co. #2, and Chief Rod Winans approached the village board with a plan. The board approved and the junior program was created.
Initially six young people joined. Since February 2024, Jack Cicirello and Colin Perkins have gone on to join the Wellsville Fire Department. Currently there are 10 active juniors. The current crew is Brielle Kemp, junior captain; Lucas Fleischman, assistant captain; secretary Tripp Martelle; and Abby Stoneham, Landyn Graham, Bryson Clemens, Connor Kramer, Austin Outman, Jordan Merkwa and Gavin Freund. If some of the surnames seem familiar it is because they are. Many could be called legacy volunteers with long family traditions of serving in the fire department.
Fleischman, himself a junior firemen in his youth, heads up the new program. “The junior program is a great asset to the department. They are a great help,” he said. When at emergency scenes junior firefighters are trained to help hook up fire hydrants, stretch hoses, get equipment that is needed and help change air bottles at fire scenes and take them to the air truck to be filled. After incidents are over, the juniors play a role in getting all of the equipment picked up, cleaned and back on trucks. Even when the department has good manpower at a scene, Firefighters continued on PAGE 6
‘While Walking Around Wellsville’: Program with local photographer set for April 16 BY KATHRYN ROSS
WELLSVILLE — Whether it’s the WAG trail or village streets, wildlife or window displays, Melanie Hunt’s camera focuses on small town life in a rural community. The Thelma Rogers Genealogical and Historical Society will sponsor “While Walking Around Wellsville,” a photographic journey with Hunt, at 6 p.m. April 16 in the Gallery at the David A. Howe Library. This is a free program, and the public is encouraged to attend. Over the last few years Hunt’s photographs of plant life and wildlife along the
WAG Trail have captured the attention of locals and increased foot traffic along the woodland trail that follows the Genesee River south. Bends in the river, shadowed glens, shy deer, shoreline birds. otters playing in the stream, ducks and cranes basking in the sun have all been in her lens. Yet while her close-ups of animals, insects and plants delight and intrigue, Hunt’s images of downtown in the gloaming or after dark or in the dawning also fascinate the public and give us all a greater appreciation of our surroundings. Hunt is a 1995 graduate of Wellsville High School. Two years after walking across
the stage, she enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1997, where she worked in avionics and public affairs. On her last assignment, before retiring, she covered Capitol Hill and the Pentagon for Air Force News. In 2004 she moved back to Wellsville with her son, Devin, and with son Carson on the way. Recovering from a traumatic incident which occurred while serving in the USAF, Hunt, after years of drug and alcohol abuse, began to seek therapy in 2016. “Part of my recovery was spending time exercising and out in nature, so I started walking the WAG Trail. I saw
Photo by Melanie Hunt The photography of Melanie Hunt, who captured this image of the Pink House in Wellsville, will be featured in an April 16 program, sponsored by the Thelma Rogers Genealogical and Historical Society, at the David A. Howe Library.
Wellsville Program continued on PAGE 6
We will be closed on Easter Sunday so that our Associates can celebrate Easter with their friends and family. We will re-open on Monday with regular hours.
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