The Town of Taghkanic is in the final stages of creating a Fire District with the Taghkanic Fire Company. The Town has for many years contracted with the Taghkanic Fire Company and the Churchtown Fire Company. To facilitate the transition to a Fire District, as of January 1, 2024, the Town of Taghkanic is no longer contracting with the Churchtown Fire Company.
The vast majority of towns in Columbia County have now adopted the fire district model. Craryville covers the northeast corner of Taghkanic and has been a fire district since 1941. The Town Board has a fiduciary responsibility to the residents of Taghkanic and believes the Fire District model will better serve our residents.
All who reside in Taghkanic who were previously covered by the Churchtown Fire Company are now serviced by the Taghkanic Fire Company. The residents of the areas in Taghkanic affected by this change will receive communications (ie Annual Fund Drive Letters) from the Taghkanic Fire Company.
The Taghkanic Fire Company membership is 100% volunteer and the Company depends on the support of the community to function effectively.

It makes no sense to not contract with the Churchtown Fire Company. Those of us living closer to the Churchtown Fire Company than the Taghkanic Fire Company will experience additional response time to a fire or other life threatening events. It will cause the cost of insuring our homes to increase. What will this mean should the need for an emergency shelter arise? The Churchtown Fire Company station can handle that situation. Will the lives of residents of Taghkanic now be in peril?
The only recent budget document I see on the Town’s web site is the approved Town Board Budget Workshop Meeting of September 18, 2023. In this report Churchtown is listed under ‘Fire Protection’. “The Town…
Why not contract with Churchtown Fire company? This will add response time to my location! It doesn’t make sense!