The funds are designed to cover some of the costs incurred as a result of the devastating December 11-12 ice storm which paralyzed much of the county, knocking out power and closing roads. Aid is distributed for equipment lost and used during the storm, which was designated a federal disaster, as well work hours expended (even by volunteers) and other costs related to the storm.  

The funding—part of $878,841.83 awarded by FEMA this week—is divided up the following ways locally:

• Town of Hillsdale  $8,997.60
• Stuyvesant Volunteer Fire Company  $5,420.22
• Red Rock Volunteer Fire Company  $2,817.53
• Town of Canaan  $1,705.52
• Hillsdale Volunteer Fire Company  $1,312.10

Stuyvesant Fire Chief Steve Montie told ccSCOOP on Friday that the funds are nowhere near what his company expected or had requested. “We were supposed to get $7,200. That’s what they told us. So we got [hurt] with this,” he said.

“We spent a lot of money on providing a shelter, and we had also asked for reimbursement for our equipment and manpower,” said the longtime fire chief. His company provided a shelter at the firehouse and answered dozens of emergency calls for electrical wires down, flooded basements, and even a structure fire during the days following the ice storm.

“If they paid what we were supposed to get, it should have been about $20,000, but we would have been happy with the $7,200 they told us we would get,” Montie said.

Montie said any funds the fire company receives from FEMA will be used toward replacing the boat the company uses for water rescues and emergencies on the river during the summer.

Columbia County Board of Supervisors Chairman Art Baer told ccSCOOP on Friday that he doesn’t know where the FEMA aid figures released by Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles Schumer came from. “The estimates are still being worked on by FEMA. To date they have approved $60,000 for the Town of Hillsdale,” said Baer, who is the Republican supervisor for that town.

Asked specifically about the $8,997.60 aid figure for Hillsdale included in the Gillibrand/Schumer press release, Baer said, “I don’t know where that number came from.”

Baer, who had spoken with county Emergency Management Director Bill Black earlier in the day, said he was also aware of additional funds being approved for towns within the county which have not yet been made public. These include $15,000 for the Town of Stuyvesant.

“There is hundreds, hundreds of thousands of dollars that are still out there that we should be receiving,” he said.

To underscore that statement, Baer said that the county alone—not taking into account individual towns or fire companies within its borders—is seeking $325,000 in FEMA aid for its work during and after the ice storm.