11/05/2026
We do not always give a shout out to every single person who passes through our doors, but this one made a lasting impression on many of us.
Tonight at our monthly meeting Secretary and Firefighter Anthony Velasquez requested to move to exempt status with our department.
Joining our ranks in June of 2013, about a year after graduating high school firefighter Velasquez had seen us out on a call, and decided he wanted to give firefighting a try. Not really knowing what lay ahead, he came To us a shy but outspoken teen. We watched Anthony graduate three colleges- JCC, Geneseo, and Potsdam. We watched him Going through many State Fire courses making his way through as scene support and eventually interior status.
For a while there was a running joke that everything always happened when Anthony was away at college, and never when he was home- which he would get frustrated about.
Anthony then served as a Board of Director for a few years. Anthony was always one we could count on for financial advice, he knows numbers and money, and he helped the department get to where we are today.
Anthony has MC’ed at our last few department banquets. When he first started making moves to run for political office, he had a conversation with Assemblyman Blankenbush at one of our banquets, he was rather disheartened when he found out he had a 20 minute conversation with Jack Bruce the funeral director…. And not Ken Blankenbush the Assemblyman (in his defense, if you get a few too many in you, they look the same) 🤣
Lastly Anthony became our department secretary. He helped streamline a lot of steps that made the job very time consuming, and helped build data bases, spreadsheets, and templates.
Anyways, we want to thank you Anthony for your thirteen years of service to our Department and our Community! You will always have a home at the Black River Fire Department!
