Amherst firefighters hone their skills in collaborative training event
'Things like today are allowing us to get together, strengthen our camaraderie, hone our skills together so we're comfortable with the people next to us even if they're not from our home fire company,' said Getzville Fire Company Public Information Officer David Morales.
Town wide day drills are held every month to help build connection between fire companies in the community. Once a year, they participate in a drill to help them practice responding to a call and putting out the flames together.
'When we get a fire, especially dayside when we don't have a lot of firefighters around, our fire departments like to work together, so when we work together like this we really get to know each other and know our skills and this just hones in our skills,' said Main Transit Fire Department Captain Jack Leising.
'These drills like this allow firefighters to come together that they might not be familiar with, working with a different officer or a different firefighter next to you so that way you get there and you know, 'oh, I've seen that guy before, I know they know what they're doing,'' said Morales.
For anyone who is interested in becoming a volunteer firefighter, officials say they'll teach you the skills and provide the training.
'These are people who give their most valuable resource, which is their time,' said Morales. 'It's a very honorable thing, it a very beautiful thing, becoming a firefighter is one of the best things that I've ever done. I would recommend anybody to do it because they give you the skills.'
'It's a very good brotherhood that we've had throughout the years,' said Leising. 'Not to mention, just the sense of community that you get just by helping your community.'
For more information on how to become a volunteer, click here.
Hope Winter is a reporter and multimedia journalist who has been part of the News 4 team since 2021. See more of her work here.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Times
8 minutes ago
- New York Times
David Mazzarella, Editor Who Helped Reshape USA Today, Dies at 87
David Mazzarella, who as the top editor of USA Today in the 1990s sharpened the colorful broadsheet newspaper's focus on hard news, including the establishment of a unit that produced investigative and enterprise journalism, died on July 17 in Falls Church, Va. He was 87. His wife, Christine Wells, said that he died at a rehabilitation center from complications of a fall. A former foreign and war correspondent for The Associated Press who rose through the ranks of USA Today's parent company, Gannett, Mr. Mazzarella was named editor in chief in 1994 and pushed the USA Today staff to produce newsy scoops and strongly reported investigations that readers couldn't get anywhere else. He added bureaus in Hong Kong and London as well as Denver, Atlanta and Boston. And he created an enterprise department that produced series about airline pilots who evaded licensing safeguards; children who were killed by airbags in automobile collisions; and the Ford Motor Company's problems with faulty ignition switches, which led to a recall. Under Mr. Mazzarella's watch, USA Today ran a multipart series that investigated arson fires at Southern churches. He was credited with accelerating an effort to feature more substantial journalism that had begun under his predecessor, Peter S. Prichard, and to shift away somewhat from USA Today's earlier reputation for breezy bite-sized stories ('Men, Women: We're Still Different,' one headline said) that earned it the nickname McPaper. 'We're not denying our past,' Mr. Mazzarella told The Washington Post in 1997. 'It's still our intention to keep providing news that's easy to read, in small bites. But we want to add to that an element of depth that makes the news more understandable to our readers.' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
35 minutes ago
- Yahoo
What to say and do if your child comes out as trans
"Is it a boy or a girl?" expectant parents are often asked. Some even hold a gender reveal party, where a popped balloon might release blue or pink confetti, depending on the baby's sex. But sex isn't the same as gender. Just because someone is assigned, on the basis of their physical characteristics, the sex of male or female at birth, doesn't mean they'll later identify with their biological status. Their gender identity may be different, as gender is a social construct. A transgender person is someone who doesn't, or doesn't fully, identify with the sex they were assigned at birth. Some identify as male or female, others as non-binary - that is, neither exclusively male nor female, or as no gender at all. If a child comes out as transgender - often shortened to "trans" - or non-binary, parents may be out of their depth and not know how best to handle the situation. Ulrich Ritzer-Sachs, a counsellor with Germany's Federal Conference for Child Guidance Counselling (bke), offers some tips: How should you react on learning your child doesn't identify with their assigned sex? Ritzer-Sachs: Stay calm, listen to your child, take them seriously and give them a hug. Taking your child in your arms is always the best thing you can do. You should also consider whether you're ready and able to talk about the matter right away. You may be flummoxed at first and need some time, in which case it's OK to say, "It's great that you're telling me this. Why don't we find another time so that we can talk about it at length?" But then you really must find the time, since it's such an important issue. You can't just discuss it while, say, you're cooking dinner or have just 10 minutes to spare. How can you help your child's gender identity formation if you're not well informed about the subject or aren't comfortable with it? Ritzer-Sachs: You should take your child really seriously and address the subject together. Find out, educate yourself about it and talk to experts. You can find specialized advice centres that are well versed [in transgenderism]. The current state of research says it's wise to accept children and adolescents in their development, whether or not it's as you envisioned it would be. The thinking is that they'll be able to grow up better having found their true gender identity, and live a much happier life if it's not suppressed. No one has to go through this alone. If you're unsure what to say or how to act, it's sometimes a good idea to get professional advice independently of your child, who, after all, has already grappled with the issue and given it a lot of thought before coming out to you. So it's perfectly all right for you to first get clarity, because no matter how equanimous and liberal-minded you are, it's a big challenge and not easy for anyone. Go to an advice centre and ask all the questions rushing through your mind, including those that may be difficult for your child. One concern of parents is that their child could face problems in school or elsewhere on account of not everyone accepting their gender identity. Are there ways you can protect your child? Ritzer-Sachs: That kind of support starts a lot earlier, namely by raising your child to be as self-confident as possible in all areas. You want to help them be able to deal with setbacks as well as successes. You can prepare them for intolerant people they'll come across who may make fun of them. There will always be people who make stupid comments - you've got to let them bounce off. You can't protect your child from this, as it's fairly certain to happen. But it happens in many areas and is part of life. You always have to look at the situation individually. What does your child need? Can they handle it? Can they steer clear of such people? Do you have to speak with the school or peer group? It is always a balancing act, between how much you can bear your child's difficult confrontations, and how much you get involved yourself. I don't think it's any different from going against other norms. The norm is always what the majority does - that doesn't mean it's right or wrong. You can explain this to your child in a way that is appropriate for their age. I wouldn't say, "If you do this, then expect X, Y or Z," but you can imply it. And when the time comes, you can still work together to see what you can do to get through it. Solve the daily Crossword
E&E News
an hour ago
- E&E News
Slowly but steadily, EPA moves tortoise conservation plan along
EPA has signed off on the environmental assessment of a desert tortoise conservation proposal intended to both protect the threatened species and streamline energy and other project permits throughout a large swath of Southern California. In a brief but procedurally important letter filed Monday, the agency advised the Fish and Wildlife Service that it is satisfied with revisions made to the conservation plan's environmental impact statement. The largely technical revisions were in response to an initial EPA review of the EIS while it was still in draft form. 'We did not identify significant environmental concerns to be addressed in the final EIS and supported the [plan],' Jean Prijatel. manager of EPA's Policy and Operations Branch wrote Monday, adding that 'we appreciate the Service's detailed response to our comments and the changes made.' Advertisement The EPA official's declaration that 'we have no further comments' means FWS can progress to the next step with the 276-page general conservation plan unveiled in public last October.
