TIERS Coverage Area
The area is known as the Thousand Islands region, which provides a strong identity in our name, and for the namesake bridge (right), from the U.S. mainland to Wellesley Island which carries traffic to the border crossing with Canada. The T.I. Bridge also provides the pattern for our TIERS logo.
There are several other smaller islands in our coverage area, which presents unique challenges in case of medical or fire emergencies. There are two fire boats in our area which can shuttle TIERS crews to and from an island call, depending on weather conditions.
Clayton Fire Department's fireboat "Last Chance" (left), is our main fireboat partner. TIERS has a complement of emergency medical equipment on board, and responding Paramedics take ALS/BLS bags with them. The Fishers Landing Fire Department also has a fireboat.
In addition to residents on islands and pleasure boats, the busy St. Lawrence Seaway also carries massive ocean-going freighter ships. Working with the United States Coast Guard, TIERS must always be ready for the possibility of an emergency medical call on a ship, and for a possible HAZMAT incident in case of a chemical- or petroleum-carrying ship accident. Any contact with international vessels and crews may also mean some involvement with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Coast Guard, Customs or Border Patrol officials. There is also a chance of a mass casualty incident on the water involving one of several large tour boats that operate on the river.
Once the river starts to
freeze, quick island access is by snowmobile, ATV or airboat
only. Our coverage area suffers from severe winter weather conditions on land,
too, which pose their own EMS challenges. TIERS has an ATV/snowmobile Rescue
Trailer, donated by
The Rivergate
Wheelers ATV Club of
Clayton. Our Rescue Trailer carries EMS and extrication equipment for rescues in
remote, difficult terrain, and can provide emergency patient transportation in
severe weather or across river ice.
We also use our
Rescue Trailer and the
TIERS EMS Bike Team to provide coverage in crowded public events in River
communities. While the actual population of our coverage
area
is just over
7,000, the number of people along the shore swells considerably during the summer tourism season. Heat and humidity added to boating, water and land sports, heavy road traffic and alcohol consumption bumps up TIERS' number of calls in the summer months. There are numerous festivals and fairs in our River communities from May through October.
Clayton
is the most cosmopolitan of the villages in our townships, charming and quiet,
low-key--a great place for families and anything to do with summer and the
water. Recent years have seen the arrival of military families
from
the U.SArmy's Fort Drum--as
has every area is Jefferson, Lewis, St. Lawrence and Oswego counties--as
the Fort has grown with the arrival of new missions and thousands of new sol
diers
and their dependents.
LaFargeville
is more of a "farm" town, with a large farm supply business. Its nearby access
to Interstate 81 also makes it a business center with a large trucking company,
an LP gas company, the Crowley Foods plant, and
the busy Can-Am Speedway. These also bring special considerations for TIERS and for fire services with large tanks of flammables and
toxic
chemicals fairly close to each other, and the need for training in
industrial and confined- space rescue, plus updates in HAZMAT.
TIERS crews provide weekly stand-by services at the speedway throughout the racing season: for go-karts on Friday nights and full size stock car races on Saturday nights.
The hamlets of DePauville and Fishers Landing are both small, rural communities--one on the river and one inland--with dedicated and active volunteer fire departments, the latter with a fireboat.
Rural areas account for the majority of our coverage area, so TIERS hosted rescuers from all over the area at the 2005 Farm Medic seminar, dealing specifically with special farm considerations--machinery and farm equipment entrapments, chemicals and fertilizers used, silo rescue and other specific topics. We also rely on our Rescue Trailer for use in remote areas of farmland and thick woods.
A new--and surprising--
addition
to our area is the arrival of several families of Old Amish who have relocated
to the Depauville area from Ohio and Pennsylvania, drawn by high-quality
farmland at low purchase prices. While they typically have little to do with
"The English", we do have an occasional need to serve their emergency medical
needs. Click here to
find out much more about their history and unique lifestyle .
