GREENVILLE—On May 31, the Greenville Township Fire Company, Inc. was dissolved by a resolution of the Fire District Board of Commissioners, and a new fire company called Mountain View Fire and Rescue, Inc. was designated the exclusive fire company for the district.
The announcement came after years of conflict between the Greenville Fire Company, which owns the firehouse on Route 6, and the Board of Commissioners, which rented the firehouse from them.
The lease expired Dec. 31, and because the two groups could not agree on a new lease, the Board of Commissioners decided to build a new firehouse on property adjacent to the Greenville Volunteer Ambulance Corp, which they have leased for 99 years at $1 a year.
The Greenville Fire Company sued the Board of Commissioners saying they did not follow proper protocol with their State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR), among other things, and the building, now over half built, sits vacant while the legal case is being resolved.
The Board of Commissioners said the decision had nothing to do with the fire house and was based purely on staffing issues. For example, the Greenville Fire Department did not have a certified chief. Darryl Davis, who was elected by the company to be the chief, was given one year by the Board of Commissioners to get all his certifications for the position. He completed all the necessary coursework, he said, but had to take more classes because the requirements were raised at the end of this year.
On May 31, the district removed its fire trucks from the firehouse “without warning,” said Jim Decker, a member of the Greenville Fire Department.
“We went to the firehouse the other day—no trucks, they’re gone. [They] never told us, they just took them out of the building,” he said.
