She made the presentation this past weekend at the St. Lawrence County Fire Chiefs Association annual dinner honoring Robert E. Kerr, a member of the Norfolk Fire Department, as the 2016 Firefighter of the Year.
The Norfolk Fire Department in the wake of a March 31, 1915 fire that claimed the life of a Norfolk woman, her five-month-old twin daughters and her sister. The inferno also destroyed a number of houses and businesses on both sides of a Main Street block. Damage at the time was estimated at a quarter of a million dollars.
Firefighters from Norwood and Potsdam and their equipment came into Norfolk on a special train to fight the blaze since Norfolk didn't have its own fire department.
The Norfolk Fire Department was formed as a village department the next year by a board of commissioners. The first station was located at the same site as the current home of the volunteer fire department off Main Street.
The department initially had 40 members and its equipment included a Ford Model T pumper and a Packard chemical truck.
The Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department currently protects a 57-square mile district and has three stations - one at the corner of Main and Furnace streets in downtown Norfolk, a second station on Route 56 in the hamlet of Norfolk and a third station on Route 420 between Massena and Winthrop.
The department currently has approximately 60 members, and its equipment includes three rescue vehicles a tanker, four engine/tanker trucks and a UTV.
IN THE PHOTOS:
TOP PHOTO:
Assemblywoman Addie A.E. Jenne presents Norfolk Fire Chief Rick Bump with a citation recognizing the volunteers for 100 years of service to the community. The department provides mutual aid to Massena, Louisville, Brasher-Winthrop, West Stockholm and Norwood.
BOTTOM PHOTO:
Assemblywoman Addie A.E. Jenne congratulates Norfolk Fire Chief Rick Bump and members of the Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department for 100 years of service to the community. St. Lawrence County Deputy Fire Coordinator Rick Coller, a member of the Norfolk Fire Department, stands in the background.
