Congratulations To This Week’s Volunteer Fire Company Of The Week: The Bennington Volunteer Fire Company

Congratulations to this week's Volunteer Fire Company of the Week: The Bennington Volunteer Fire Company. Personally, I go back a long time with this fire company. I used to host a lot of country jamborees there back in the late 1980's. One of their members helped to save my life back in 1989 when I was accidentally shot in the head in a field in Bennington. EMT Sherrie Hoy was able to stop the bleeding and helped me from bleeding out in the ambulance. Without her, I probably would not be here.

Bennington firefighter Jim Kelly tells us the history of the Bennington Volunteer Fire Company:
The Bennington Volunteer Fire Company, established in 1945 is located in the Town of Bennington in Wyoming County 30 miles southeast of Buffalo. Wyoming County is primarily an agricultural county, agriculture, though decreasing, still maintains a presence in the Town. There is a trend toward rural residential development, which has accelerated in the last decade. Over the years, farms in the town are bing sold off into residential lots. The typical new lot averages about five to ten acres in size. The Town of Bennington is becoming a bedroom community due to our proximity to Buffalo, Batavia and Rochester. The town also has many seasonal recreational areas, which has increased the traffic flow as well as increased the number of motor vehicle and rescue calls. As traffic continues to rise, the number of motor vehicle accident responses continues to escalate. The increased traffic is flowing through our two lane state, county and town roads to and from nearby Darien Lake State and Theme Parks and Resorts (located immediately north of our Fire Protection District), the Bennington Park Camping Resort, Quiet Times Golf Course, and the 600 hundred acre Camp Schoellkopf Boy Scout Camp (all within our Fire Protection District). In addition the close proximity of Attica State Prison, is in our neighboring Village of Attica (immediately east of our Fire Protection District). State Route 354 (of which our fire hall is located on), is heavily traveled daily by both prison employees and visitors.

We have an active roster of 40 members, comprised of Firefighters, EMT's, Intermediate EMT's, and a Paramedic. We neighbor the Fire Districts, of Attica, Varysburg, Harris Corners, Cowlesville, and Darien, We respond to EMS, Fire, Auto Accidents, and Miscellaneous alarms. We responded to over 150 alarms in 2011, both in district and mutual aids, to our neighboring departments.

We have 6 pieces of apparatus that we respond with:

Bennington 1- 1999 Pierce Pumper

Bennington 2- 2008 Pierce Pumper

Bennington 3- 1998 S&S Tanker

Bennington 7- 2004 Pierce Heavy Rescue

Bennington 8- 2004 Demers Ambulance

Bennington 9- Kubota, used for Off-Road Rescues

We run several fund raisers each year, in trying to keep apparatus, gear and equipment updated. We have a Gun Raffle in March, a Plant & Chowder sale in May, our Ultimate Raffle in September, as well as our Election Day Chicken Barbeque, and Our Annual Calendar Sale. We are very active in our communtiy participating in Fire Prevention, County Parades, and other community events.

We strive to be the best we can, providing our residents with a professional and timely response, in the event of an emergency. We are always looking for new members, 16 years of age or older, residents of our Fire District, who would like to be a part of the Bennington Volunteer Fire Company family.

God Bless all Firefighters everywhere! If you would like your fire company to be recognized on our website, please email me a photo and bio to: johnlamond@wyrk.com