Photos by Robin Freeman

At approximately 0955 hrs on Sunday Dec. 6th Tioga County 9-1-1 received a call for a reported structure fire on Cowburn Rd. near the Turton Rd. in Ulysses Twp. Ulysses Dept 47, Genesee Dept 37 and Galeton Dept 10 were dispatched to respond. Shortly after dispatch Chief 47 (Roy Hunt) reported heavy smoke showing while still enroute. Upon arrival on scene Chief Hunt reported a single story structure heavily involved with a large volume of fire showing on the east end of the structure and heavy smoke issuing from the west end of the building.

Due to deteriorating conditions an exterior attack was conducted. Harrison Twp Dept 20 was also requested to respond with one engine requested to the scene and a second engine to establish water supply operations. Shortly after the arrival of first due units the structure began to collapse. Units were on scene for several hours. The structure was completely destroyed.

More photos of the Turton fire can be found in our Photo Gallery

Within 24 hours the same departments would respond to two additional structure fire calls in the area. The first occurring in Brookland on the Fox Hill Rd. Due to the quick action of a Dept 47 chief officer that lives in the area damage was contained to the area around the chimney. The second call, which came in while crews were still at the Fox Hill scene, was for a chimney fire on the White Knowle Rd in Harrison Twp. Fortunately damage was confined to the area of the chimney in that blaze as well.

How old is your smoke detector? Did you know that you should replace your smoke detector after 10 years? That's right, because the ionization element in the detector degrades over time and after about 10 years your smoke detector may no longer function. So in order to make sure that you are properly protected you should check your detector regularly and if it fails to activate or is getting close to being 10 years old you should replace it immeadiately.

The Tri-Town Junior Firefighters are selling smoke detectors to raise money for their projects. Cost of the smoke detectors is $10 and it even includes the battery. If you need assistance installing your new smoke detector we can even help you with that as well. You can purchase a smoke detector by seeing one of the Tri-Town Junior Firefighters, or by sending an E-mail to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it They will also be on sale at many of the upcoming department events such as the fire prevention week open house on Oct. 11th, the sportsman show on Nov. 20th & 21st, and the upcoming fish fries.

And remember - Change your clock - change your battery in your smoke detector!

The Tri-Town Fire Co.'s 2nd annual Gun & Cash Raffle was held on Sept. 13th. The results are as follows:

1st Place - Chris Haley - Winchester Model 70 Featherweight or $700 in Cash

2nd Place - Matt Seeley - $250 Cash

3rd Place - Keyden Barone - $150 Cash

4th Place - Mike Salvage - $ 100 Cash

The Sportsman Show that was originally scheduled for the weekend of Sept 12th & 13th has been moved to Nov. 20th & 21st at the Tri-Town Fire & Ambulance Hall on Rt. 49 in Ulysses. Come join us then for lots of good bargins and lots of good food served by the Tri-Town Fireman's Auxilary.