Taghkanic Fire Company Banquet

Firefighter of the Year Abbie Hodgson with Chief Hilscher

On the evening of Saturday, May 17th, the Taghkanic Fire Company hosted their Annual Banquet at their Station #1 house at 631 Old Route 82.  In attendance were 88 people from not only Taghkanic, but also several of our surrounding towns.  Susan Soltano was the primary organizer of the banquet, and the Ancram Fire Company helped to serve the meal, as an act of mutual aid.

Honored for their years on service with the Fire Company were:

Chief William "Billy" Hilscher--joined in 1985--40 years of service 

Tom Herishko--joined in 1995--30 years of service 

Carmine Auriero--joined in 2015--10 years of service

CorDel Hall--joined in 2015--10 years of service

Vinnie Kobos--joined in 2015--10 years of service

Kali Soltano--joined in 2020--5 years of service 

Susan Soltano--joined in 2020--5 years of service

Also honored as Firefighter of the Year was Abbie Hodgson.  Abbie and her husband Foster Morss both joined the Fire Company in October 2023 at the encouragement of members Larry Kadish, Scott Marinoff, and Chief Hilscher.  While she was surprised at receiving the award, Abbie has said that through her volunteering with the Fire Company she finds it gratifying to help those in need, gives her a deeper community involvement, and provides a sense of camaraderie with other company members. Abbie is also now one of the five Commissioners of the new Taghkanic Fire District

Chief Hilscher explained that this honor is determined from a raw score based on points earned through the number of calls, drills, meetings, and trainings attended through the year.  The Chief added that in addition to this raw score, the honor also takes into consideration the firefighter's support of the mission statement of the Fire Company, and that Abbie definitely meets all of these criteria.

Ready for anything!