Fire department units from Athens, West Athens, Catskill, Coxsackie, Modena Fire (Ulster Co.) and City of Hudson participated in a multi-agency hands-on drill on Sunday, November 12th.

Firefighters assembled at the West Athens Lime Street Fire District training facility. Each attendee went through three evolutions of hands-on training with ground ladders, advance search and mask confidence, and advanced vehicle extricate.

Instructors for the Advanced Auto Extrication segment were Dan Shultz from Dover FD and a state fire instructor in Dutchess Co., and Dan Hickey, from Hudson FD and a state fire instructor in Columbia County.

The Ground Ladder evolution instructors were James McDermott of the Athens FD, FDNY battalion 39 Chief and Suffolk County fire instructor, and John J. Farrell from West Athens FD.

Search and mask confidence was instructed by Buddy Schermerhorn of the Hudson Fire Department and Columbia County Fire Coordinator, along with Jim Robinson Assistant Chief of Athens FD.