Members of the Falconer Volunteer Fire Department were recognized for battling two fires over the weekend. Photo by the New York State Police

FALCONER — Members of the Falconer Volunteer Fire Department were honored for their “outstanding” efforts over the weekend to quell two fires in the village.

What began as a normal Falconer Village Board meeting Tuesday briefly served as a moment to applaud the quick response from fire crews early Sunday morning that saw 36 Falconer volunteers in action.

“I cannot say enough about volunteer firefighters,” said Falconer Mayor Jim Jaroszynski. “I mean this was late Saturday night, early Sunday morning and to have 36 members of our department get up and get out of their beds to battle a structure fire is simply outstanding as far as I’m concerned.”

Jaroszynski also acknowledged that the fire crews were immediately called to a second fire, too.

Crews initially responded to a fire at 217 E. Pearl St. for a report of a house fire around 2:45 a.m. Volunteers from Gerry, Kennedy and Kiantone also responded to the scene. Firefighters were on scene until about 7 a.m. fighting what fire chief Bryce Webster described as a “very stubborn fire.”

“No one was injured. We released the last crew around 7 (a.m.), 7:10 (a.m.),” Webster said. “The fire was turned over to the Chautauqua County Fire Investigation Team and the town of Ellicott Police for further investigation to determine the cause of the fire. At this point in time nothing has been released in a press release so that is still an ongoing investigation.”

While Falconer personnel were successful in dousing the first blaze that caused significant damage to the Pearl Street residence, many of them were quickly rerouted to a second reported fire on Interstate 86. There, a semi tractor-trailer’s rear tire had caught fire which briefly closed a 3-mile section of the interstate to traffic for 45 minutes.

“The crews did excellent,” Webster said about the Sunday’s response. “We had a good crew on.”

Up until Feb. 25, the volunteer fire department had accrued 293 man hours, which didn’t include the efforts over the weekend. Falconer officials and members of the public at Tuesday’s meeting broke into applause after Sunday’s events were detailed by Webster and Jaroszynski.

A Falconer resident in attendance declared the Falconer Volunteer Fire Department as “the finest fire department in Chautauqua County.”