On the Bright Side: Female fire chief makes history in Otsego County

January 16, 2009 07:37 am

— By Jake Palmateer
Staff Writer

Debby White said she became a volunteer firefighter 13 years ago partly out of tradition and partly because she wanted to help out her community.

On Jan. 1, she was elected chief of the Unadilla Forks Fire Department. But the 48- year-old mother of eight said Thursday she did not have any idea she was setting a milestone.

White is the first female fire chief in the history of Otsego County, according to Lyle “Butch” Jones, the county’s emergency services coordinator.

White said she started at the Cassville Fire Department in 1996 and became qualified as an emergency medical technician a year later. She moved to nearby Unadilla Forks in 2001 and joined the fire department there.

“That’s where I grew up,” White said. White said she was born into a dairy farming family and is a former dairy farmer. She’s also no stranger to heat and flames.

On Thursday, before talking with The Daily Star, White finished her shift at Special Metals in New Hartford. “I melt metal,” she said. White said she has learned special emergency response skills working in a hazardous environment, which has helped her as a volunteer firefighter and emergency medical technician.

Because she grew up in Unadilla Forks, she has known many of the fire department members all of her life.

“It’s pretty awesome,” she said.

White said she hopes to build on the sense of teamwork that already exists at the department and do a few more training initiatives in her first year as chief.

“I have a lot of really good officers helping me,” she said.

Unadilla Forks is in extreme northwestern Otsego County and covers much of the town of Plainfield. The rural community is sandwiched between Herkimer, Oneida and Madison counties, with Chenango County about 10 miles away.

Although there are five counties and several other fire departments nearby, such as Bridgewater, Leonardsville and West Winfield, White said there is a sense of community in the largely rural area, and everybody looks out for each other.