Shaker Road Loudonville Fire Department

Background

The Shaker Road-Loudonville Fire Department was formally organized in 1932 when thirty members met and elected James J. Naughter President and Arthur G. Emerick Chief. The original station was located at 526 Albany Shaker Road at the site of an old Sunday School House. The original pumper was a 1918 American LaFrance from White obtained from the Albany Fire Department. A newer station was constructed up the road in 1949 and remained the main station until 1989 when the current station was constructed at 550 Albany Shaker Road. A second station was built on Old Niskayuna Road in 1972 to meet the needs of the growing district.

The department was renamed in the 1957 to be the Shaker Road-Loudonville Fire Department, or SRLFD.

Organization

The department has the following firematic officers:

The chief appoints the following positions:

Explorer Post 475

The Explorer Post has been around for the last 41 years (1975–2016) and is still growing to this day. The Explorer Program is for boys and girls from ages 14 to 18 who are looking to get into a career as a firefighter or medic

The Explorer Post has the following officers:

Apparatus

SRLFD currently has 6 fire suppression vehicles and a few auxiliary vehicles.

Station One Apparatus

Station Two Apparatus

Chiefs' Vehicles

District

SRLFD's district covers from the Albany, New York city limits at the southern district border to the north, covering much of Albany International Airport. It goes east to west from Menands, New York to the borders of the Fuller Road Fire Department Protection District and the West Albany Fire Department District. Locations that are inside SRLFD's district are Loudonville, Newtonville, and Latham.

Notable places in SRLFD's district:

SRLFD's district has about 10,000 permanent residents. The value of property that SRLFD covers is in excess of $9,000,000,000.

Calls

In 2008, SRLFD had over 876 calls. 53 calls involved fire. There were also 10 extrications. During the December 2008 Northeast ice storm, SRLFD ran 135 calls from 12/12 until 12/15. However, because of the high level of activity during the ice storm, certain things, such as removal of downed trees in the roadways, are not included in that amount. The true call amount for the ice storm is much higher.

In 2012, SRLFD had 706 Calls.

In 2007, SRLFD had 816 calls. Of these calls, 61 involved fire, 4 were extrications, 13 were gas leaks, and 19 were standbys at Albany International Airport.

In 2006, SRLFD has 742 calls. Of that, 66 incidents involved fire, 4 extrications, 23 gas leaks, and 23 were standbys at Albany International Airport.

How Alarms Are Received and Dispatched

There are many ways that alarms are received: walk-in requests for help, phone calls to the stations, or through the Colonie Dispatch Center.

Upon receiving a request for help, Colonie Dispatch tones out SRLFD and any other departments on the alarm box.

In the modern day, the bulky pagers that used to be carried to alert firefighters of a call are being supplemented by text messages sent to members' cell phones. This is a sample of what these text messages look like:

FIRE ALARM

E445,E446,E447,E448,TK9

123 TEST RD

MR & MRS JOHN Q PUBLIC

Map Shaker 08:15:00

Until the old Station 1 was closed and converted into a Colonie EMS station, a Federal Signal Thunderbolt 1003 siren was also used to alert firefighters in conjunction with Plectrons and later pagers, utilizing the Hi-Lo (Fire) signal.

EMS

Until 1989, Shaker Road-Loudonville was one of 5 fire departments in Colonie that ran Rescue Squads alongside 2 independent ambulance corps. The other 4 were Boght, Colonie Village, Midway, and West Albany. The independent corps were North Colonie EMS (Latham/Maplewood). and Riverside VAC (Menands/Schuyler Heights). SRLFD was also one of only 3 ALS providers in Colonie alongside Colonie Village VFC and North Colonie EMS, in fact being the very first paramedic-level agency in the entire Capital District in the 1970s. In 1989, Colonie EMS was formed, and SRLFD retired its ambulance, known as Ambulance 9. Currently, SRLFD's old Station 1 serves as a Colonie EMS station.

SRLFD is activated for all Echo Response (cardiac and respiratory arrests) calls and Delta Response car accidents. Additionally, the department responds to EMS calls if in the area of the call or when Colonie EMS is unavailable. A mid-sized contingent (in the area of 15–17) of members are EMT-certified. The rest are all CFR-D-certified or AED-CPR-certified.

Specialties

SRLFD was once part of the Colonie Rope Rescue Team. However, Colonie EMS has overtaken those duties.

Currently, the department's runs a Firefighter Assist and Search Team to structure fires.

SRLFD also has duty crews on most nights from 6 pm to 6 am. A typical duty crew consists of anywhere from four to twelve firefighters, capable of staffing at least one piece of apparatus. During this time, the duty crew will respond to any calls SRLFD receives. Most SRLFD Crews have fully qualified Basic Life Support (BLS) engine staffing (4+ EMTs) and have the ability to handle EMS calls when Colonie EMS requests their assistance.

However, if they are not responding to an emergency, the crew usually engages in some form of training or work detail. There are also bunks in both stations for the crews to sleep in.