Amish Praised For Battling Devastating Fire
Last week, a “historic fire” left a “massive trail of damage” in the upstate New York village of Ovid (Seneca County). These photos from a variety of sources show the size of the blaze and extent of the damage.

When I saw the name Ovid, I immediately recognized it as the location of a long-standing Amish settlement. Amish people have lived in this area of the Finger Lakes region since 1981. The local Amish community has grown to over 1,100 people in size.
And like in other places, most notably Lancaster County, PA, Amish people volunteer on fire companies in this area.

In fact, this isn’t the first time these NY Amish volunteers have gotten recognition for their work. Over ten years ago we read about Amish volunteering in two area fire companies – in Ovid and nearby Interlaken. In that report, we learned several interesting things, including this:
The English (non-Amish) and the Amish have developed a community partnership through the fire companies. Recently, the Amish have participated in 9/11 memorial ceremonies and one family attended this year’s annual fire company banquet. One Amish firefighter even rode in a fire truck during the Trumansburg Fair Fireman’s Parade.
And this, about fire safety regulations limiting Amish participation (to a degree):
Only those without facial hair (the unmarried) are allowed to go into a burning structure.
“It’s a NFPA (National Fire Protection Association) regulation,” Standard said. “The air pack worn as part of the equipment doesn’t seal securely over the face when there’s facial hair. It’s for the protection of the firefighter.”
The footage in this WHAM ABC-13 report shows the ferocity of the blaze. You also feel how much the Fire Chief Timothy Westlake appreciates the Amish (see quote below) when actually hearing and seeing him speak the words.
Amish step up to help
Those Amish along with their non-Amish co-volunteers were recently called upon to help put out a fire which was traced to a charging device plugged into an electrical outlet.

Fire Chief Timothy Westlake had high praise for his department, and for the Amish volunteers specifically:
“The members that we have in this department are the workhorses in this department,” said Ovid Fire Chief Timothy Westlake.
Many of the volunteer firefighters who battled sub-zero temperatures and water issues at Tuesday night’s devastating fire in Ovid are members of the Amish community.
“We would not be capable of doing what we do without the community of the Amish being involved with us,” Westlake said.
I expect any Amish volunteers would deflect praise, but kudos to them and their non-Amish firefighting partners. You can see how frigid the temperatures were in some of these photos (look at the ice accumulation) as well as other photos at the story link (I recommend having a look at all of them, or viewing the video above).
It sounds like this fire was really devastating for the residents, with homes and businesses lost when an entire Main Street block was consumed by flames.

This whole fire department deserves praise for doing their best to minimize the damage and loss.
This fire is of course greatly overshadowed by the historic fires in L.A. happening at about the same time.
But wherever they are, it’s a good reminder of how much communities depend on the good work of brave volunteers when fires occur.


Amish are good people
The Amish are such wonderful people. They always step up to help others in their area. They are true representatives of God. Thank you for all you do!