Bethlehem’s first responders were honored Monday, March 3, at the annual Community Awards event presented by the Nathaniel Adams Blanchard American Legion Post 1040 in Bethlehem.
The awards ceremony is held each year to recognize a member from each of the town’s first response companies who went “above and beyond the call of duty.” Awards and proclamations were given out to a total of 11 companies and departments.
“This is the time we in the American Legion honor our emergency personnel in grateful recognition of your devotion to the duty, and in appreciation for the contributions to public safety in the Town of Bethlehem,” said Post Commander Al Hofaker, who served as marshal of the event.
Bethlehem Supervisor John Clarkson helped present the awards, while Albany County Executive Dan McCoy gave proclamations to each award recipient. A representative was sent on behalf of state Sen. Neil Breslin, with Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple also in attendance.
Bethlehem Police Lt. Thomas Heffernan Jr. presented the award for Police Officer of the Year on behalf of Chief Louis Corsi. This year’s award was presented to all of the detectives on the Special Services Unit for their efforts in solving a number of notable investigations over the past 12 months. Those include arrests made in several bank robberies, an armed home invasion, several cases of identity theft from a local restaurant and a lottery scam against the elderly.
“The Special Services Unit was responsible for the seizure and recovery of over a half of a million dollars in stolen property, cash and assets during the investigations taking place over the past 12 months,” said Heffernan. “Detectives were also responsible for investigating 838 cases, which resulted in over 150 arrests.”
The town’s fire departments also presented awards to the fire fighters who helped save the life of an elderly Slingerlands woman whose home caught fire in September. Slingerlands Fire Chief Brian Sleurs said the fire officers were informed of the fire by a resident who reported a structure fire across from the Slingerlands Post Office. The base then radioed fire control.
“This is the point in time when the mutual aid system that we all worked so hard to put together worked, as firefighters from five neighboring departments, along with EMS personnel from within the town, gathered to do as they have been trained and saved a life,” said Sleurs.
Despite their efforts, the resident eventually died from her injuries several days later after being transferred to the Westchester Burn Center.
The fire departments came together to present the Fire Services Lifesaving Award to all those emergency personnel who helped in that fire, for their “courage, bravery, and selfless actions.” The departments also recognized Sleurs for his own heroism for being the first on scene to enter the structure.
Awards were presented to:
Bethlehem Police Department’s detectives in the Special Services Unit:
Detective Sergeant Adam Hormick, and Detectives Charles Radlift, Geral Young, James Cross, Chad Rice, Michael Whiteley and Kenneth Beck.
Delmar/Bethlehem Volunteer EMS: Kelly VanDyke
Delmar Fire Department: Drew Anderson, Andy Morris and Tim Haverly
Elsmere Fire Department: Lt. Marc Futia
Selkirk Fire Department: Assistant Chief Steven Hummel, Barry Morehouse and former Capt. Kevin Craft
Slingerlands Fire Department: Capt. Ryan McConky
Town of Bethlehem Services: Telecommunicators Melissa Powell and Brent Dragon
Albany County Sheriff’s EMS: Davin Krzykowski, Tim Playford, Anand Balasar and David Ainspan