It is with great pride that the Clayton Ladies Auxiliary announces that Life Member Bertha Hudson was chosen as the Kent County Ladies Auxiliary Member of the Year Award at the Kent County Ladies Appreciation Night in Felton, Delaware on Saturday, February 28, 2015. Bertha joined our Auxiliary in 1974 and has been an extremely active and dedicated member for 40 years. She is a Life Member and has served terms as our Vice President and Assistant Secretary which she served with total commitment and loyalty. She has also served on every committee in our organization throughout the years, many times as the Chairperson and always got the job done in a very efficient way. Bertha has also served terms as a delegate or an alternate for our County and State organizations. Berth was also named the Clayton Ladies Auxiliary member of the Year in 2009. This is our top honor given to one of our own that shows great pride, respect, and goes above and beyond for our organization. She has always been dedicated to working in harmony with all of her fellow auxiliary members, whether it be in her own organization or on the County or State levels. She has been a very active member of her Church, Ewell’s St. Paul, located in Clayton, DE. for over 22 years. She is a loving wife of 60 years, mother of three sons, a grandmother, and also a great grandmother. She is a very gracious lady & the backbone and the stable pillar needed to keep us moving forward! The Clayton Fire Company Auxiliary would like to congratulate Bertha on this prestigious award and we would like to thank her for her many years of dedicated service to our organization!!!!

The Clayton Fire Company has a booth at Smyrna School District Day. Stop by and support all the great organizations in our community.

The Clayton Fire Company pays its respects to Firefighter Edward Roddy of the Somerset Volunteer Fire Company of Somerset, PA Fire Company Firefighter Roddy suffered from a heart attack on November 5, 2014 while at the scene of a fire and did not recover. He passed away on February 22, 2015. RIP brother

A mix of snow, ice and rain made for a fairly busy Saturday for the volunteers of Clayton. The day started with a gas leak inside a residence 147 Tracer Dr. in Hunting Mils at 09:29. Command 45 W. capt. Sacco, Engines 45-3 w/5 AC Hurlock, 45-4 W/7 Capt Davis, Quint 45 w/6, Capt Ray Johnson and Rescue 45 w/8 FF Kevin Crews along with Ladder Company 44 responded and found a malfunctioning stove. Capt Sacco had the command. As units were backing in quarters the station was dispatched for an assist Sta 26 Townsend on a residential fire at 244 Avonbridge Dr. in the Odessa National Dev. Quint 45 w/6 DC Lucas and Engine 45-3 w/8, AC Hurlock made the response and were cleared as they arrived on scene. Clayton had 38 members respond on both of these calls. Later in the evening as several inches of snow had fallen and began mixing with freezing rain the station was dispatched at 18:10 for the transformer fire at Millington Rd. & Alley Mill Rd. Command 45 & Engine 45-4 w/8, Capt. Davis made the response. Crews quickly cleared that. Finally around 20:44 the station was dispatched to assist Sta. 44 on the building fire at JBM Intermediate School on Frazer St. with a crew in the station Quint 45 w/6, DC Mike Lucas was on the street in seconds followed closely by Engine 45-3 w/6, Capt. Wes Davis and Rescue 45 w/8, AC Alex Carrow. Arriving units found an odor of smoke in the building. Crews from all units checked the entire building including, narrowing the odor down to a possible coffee machine in a lounge. Crews placed the scene under control within a short time. Lieutenant Neeld from Sta. 44 had the command. Units were back in quarters just before 10pm. Clayton had 28 members that responded on this call.

Tuesday morning residents woke up to icy roads throughout the area from an overnight ice event.  At 08:27 Sta 45, Amb 64, KM6B, KM5 and Trooper 4 were dispatched for the MVC with a vehicle overturned at 2797 Millington Rd.  Command 45 with Chief Davis arrived and found a 2 vehicle accident with one vehicle on its side down an embankment.  Rescue 45 w/5, AC Jeff Hurlock, Engine 45-4 w/7, AC Alex Carrow and Brush 45 w/4, Capt Wes davis arrived behind the chief handled patient care and secured the vehicles.  Command cancelled ALS units after evauating the patients and cleared Brush 45.  Trooper 4 which was overhead when cancelled but was requested to transport due to limited ems resources in the area from the numerious incidents taking place.  Ambulance B-64 transported one to Kgh while Trooper 4 transported the other injuried to CER.  Command placed the scene under control at 09:00.  Chief Davis had Millington Road Command. The last Clayton unit was back in quarters at 09:19.  Clayton had 28 members respond on the call.  Units responding Command 45, Rescue 45, Engine 45-4, Brush 45, Sta 45 Fire Police, CPD, DSP.     

During the regular company meeting in February Chief Davis recognized the top fire responders for 2014.  The top reponders were #10. Gary Faulkner, #9. Cheryl Hurlock, #8. Roland Timmons, Michael Lucas, #7. Robert J. Lightcap, #6, Jeff Hurlock, #5. Amber Johnson & Joanthan Burnett, #4. John Davis Sr., #3. Vernon Berghorn #2. Alex Carrow  #1. Skip Carrow.  Congratulations to all on their awards.  

During the regular monthly meeting for February President Faulkner & Chief Davis named Captain John W. Davis Jr.  as member of the month for January 2015.  During the month of January Capt Davis attended the following; 23 out of 25 alarms, 1 fund raisier event, 4 misc events, 2 drills, the company meeting for a total of 34 points and a total of 78 points for the point year.  Congratulations to Capt Davis on his award.   

During the regular company meeting in February several members were recognbized by State Representative William Carson for the recent company awards.  Rep. Carson read and presented resolutions to Junior member D.J. Correll for his Stephen Turner Memorial Award for Junior Firefighter of the Year, to Firefighter Connor Mahoney for his Firefighter of the Year Award and to Amber Johnson for her william R. "Ace" Carrow Memorial Award for Fireman of the Year.  Congratulations to D.J., Connor and Amber and thank you to Rep Carson for honoring our members and his tirelss support of our company. 

Training new firefighters and old firefighters is something that has been an issue since Ben Franklin was our nations first fire chief. Training makes our members better. Our members attend the Delaware Stat Fire School, our in company training that is scheduled the 1st and 3rd Mondays of each month. In addition our officers have been for the past several years taking our junior members on Sunday mornings out and conducting training with them. Simple things like how to stretch a hose line to a door, laying in from a hydrant, or how to conduct a search of a building in fire conditions. This just makes them better, but the great thing about this training it is not limited to just our junior members. Any Clayton firefighter can attend so you get a nice mix of younger members regardless of age and a mix of experienced members. This past Sunday the members conducted training with Quint 45. The junior members learned how to work with a truck operation and what a truck company did at a fire scene.

February 3-5 the Delaware Emergency Management Agency presented a 3 day All Hazards Position Specific Strike Team Task Force Leader Course at the Clayton Fire Station. This course presented to 10 members of the emergency response community included 4 members of the Charles County Maryland Incident Management Team, 2 members of the Sussex County Paramedic's, 1 member of the Dover Air Force Base Fire Department, 1 New Castle County Police Officer, 1 member of Delaware Civil Air Patrol, and a member of the Delaware City Refinery. The Course presented information to the 10 on how to lead crews working on large scale events or how to better do your day to day job. Instructors of the course was Capt. Jim Gestwicki of the Wilmington Police Department and Kevin L. Wilson of the Delaware Emergency Management Agency.

On Monday evening February 2, 2015 46 members of the fire company spent a few hours going over several topics. The members reviewed how to work with the gas meters used if we respond to a gas leak, the members reviewed radio procedures and how our radios worked, how to put on SCBA while seatbelted in your seat, and how to properly put on the SCBA and be ready to attack a fire. The little things sometimes get over looked, so getting back to basic things really can make the difficult things a bit less difficult.  

The officers and members of the Clayton Fire Company would like to welcome its newest member Ayden Donnelly Tobin.  Ayden was born on Monday January 26 at 1930 at the Christaina Hospital in Newark.  Ayden weighted 7Lbs 9 ounces and was 21" long.  Ayden is the second child of Firefighter Jamie Tobin and his wife Kim.  He was welcomed home by big brother William.  Mother and baby are doing great.  The company would like to congratulate Jamie & Kim and welcome Ayden into the family.  

Saturday evening at 21:23 the stations was alerted for the engine ladder and rescue to assist Sta 51 Hartly on the reported house fire at 615 Downs Chapel Rd., also on the first alarm was a Tanker and RIT from Sta 6 Sudlersville MD.  Responding units were advised the fire was reported in the garage.  Command 51 with Chief Connors arrived to find a 2 story attached garage with smoke showing.  Quint 45 w/6, Chief Davis, Engine 45-3 w/7, Capt Sacco and Rescue 45 w/8, Capt Ray Johnson arrived to find 51-3 and Tanker 51 on scene with a line stretched with the fire knocked down in the garage area.  Crews from Quint 45 checked the 2nd floor and the house for extension while the crew from 45-3 assisted with ventilation.  The crew from Rescue 45 stood fast.  Command placed the scene under control at 21:55.  The fire is under investigation by the Delaware State Fire Marshals Office.  Clayton had 35 members respond on the call.  Units responding; Engines 51-3, 45-3, 6-4, Tankers 51 & 6, Quint 45, Rescue's 51 & 45, B-61, KM6, FM-14 (Coulbourne). 

The Delaware Emergency Management Agency conducts training programs throughout the year on various topics. Today DEMA conducted an course for members of the response community on how to set up and run a Joint Information Center. 13 responders completed the 1 day course and are now better equipped to handle the public information aspect of a major event.The class was conducted in new training room at the Clayton Fire Station. The training room is available for use by contacting Skip Carrow at 632-2405

with the first significant snowfall approaching our area the Clayton Fire Company again reaches out to the public to help us so we can help you in the event of an emergency. We are asking anyone who lives close to a fire hydrant to help us by clearing snow away form the hydrant. By doing this you will help us in 1 locating the hydrants and 2 making it quicker for us to hook to the hydrant thus saving vital time. When clearing around the hydrant we ask that you clear approximately 3' all the way around the hydrant. This will give us plenty of room to do what we need to do. For those that take the time to help us we thank you for your support. Have a safe winter!!