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!

Tri-Town Jr FFs Mike Gray, Kyle Hunt and Nichole Healy

This past week three Junior Firefighters from the Tri-Town Fire and Ambulance Co. in Ulysses attended the sixth “Junior Fire & EMS Leadership Challenge” in Camp Hill, PA. The event was sponsored by the Pennsylvania Fire & Emergency Services Institute and the Fireman’s Legislative Federation. Taking part in the three day event were Jr. FF Nichole Healy, Jr. FF Kyle Hunt and Jr. FF Michael Gray. The Junior Firefighters were accompanied by senior department member Capt. Mike Healy who is one of the Junior Firefighter program advisors. A total of 30 Junior Firefighters along with about a dozen senior advisors from around the state took part in the event.

Things got kicked off at 1300 hrs on Sunday and everyone quickly got to work. After staff introductions everyone was separated into one of four groups based upon symbols on their name tags. Members from a single department were intentionally placed into separate groups in an effort to foster increased networking and leadership skills right from the start. Once this was completed each team selected a team leader and developed a team name. They also received information on the projects that each team would need to complete over the course of the event. The groups also took part in their first “team building” event, the group ski challenge. After dinner the group would listen to a presentation on leadership by Kevin Nelson of KPN Consulting. Mr. Nelson has been involved in the emergency services for more than two decades and has been active in the State’s Incident Management Team.

Starting with breakfast at 0700 hrs on Monday everyone got an early start to what would be a long and busy day. Immediately following breakfast was guest speaker Pennsylvania Fire Commissioner Ed Mann. The Commissioner outlined many of the challenges that lay ahead for the prospective future leaders of the state’s emergency services. He equated the current state of the fire service in Pennsylvania to the situation back in the mid-1970’s when what would become the state’s EMS system was in total disarray. He stated that it is unlikely that the fire service will be able to remain an “unregulated industry” in the state and that measures are needed to ensure that fire departments across the state have the proper leadership in order to be successful in the future.