Chappaqua Fire Department Builds Up Facebook Presence

CHAPPAQUA, NY — Members of the Chappaqua Fire Department have started reaching out to the community through social media, joining several nearby departments that frequently post their calls and news on Facebook.

Here's an example from this weekend:

They join departments like Croton-on-Hudson's, which was an early power user of Facebook to share not only daily calls and monthly operations but also safety bulletins, people news and community events.

The need to communicate better became acute when controversy started over Fire District No. 1's proposal to expand the Chappaqua firehouse, a plan that was rejected by voters. There was strong feeling among residents about what the Fire District was requesting, and a lot of questioning and misinformation about the fire department's activities and its future.

As they explained after some people questioned the sudden surge in Facebook posts:

Quite simply we had been working to put the proper infrastructure (proofreading, approval etc) in place to start sharing our activities in a similar fashion to how Millwood has been posting. When all of the public comments started, some of which were/are inaccurate, it became more important to us, the volunteers of the Chappaqua Fire Dept, for the public to know what we are doing in following our mission statement of "Neighbors Helping Neighbors". Although we have worked quietly in the background for over 100 years, we felt it was important to share what we are doing with the public.

Image via Chappaqua Fire Department's Facebook page