The members of the Potsdam Fire Department would like to welcome four new members to our already 47-member department roster, bringing our membership total to 51.

Jessie Kozak is a native of Buffalo, New York. After graduation, Jessie moved to the Potsdam Area where he joined the United States Army. Mr. Kozak completed two deployments in Iraq and is currently on his 15th year in the U.S. Army. Mr. Kozak is currently in his 8th year of recruiting command and has recently moved back to Potsdam where he is in command of the U.S. Army Recruiting office located on Market Street. Mr. Kozak is eager to start taking firefighting courses and giving back to our community.

Nicholas Costanzo is a native of Williamsville, New York. Nicholas is currently a freshman at Clarkson University. Mr. Costanzo came highly recommended from his hometown fire department, Harris Hill Fire Company, to run mutual aid with the Potsdam Fire Department while he is here for college. Mr. Costanzo has already completed his Basic Exterior Firefighting Operations course.

Joshua Coughlin is a native of Camden, New York. Joshua is currently a senior at Clarkson University. Mr. Coughlin is currently in the Basic Exterior Operations Course. Mr. Coughlin came highly recommended by his hometown fire department, Camden Fire Company, to run mutual aid with the Potsdam Fire Department while finishing his engineering degree.

Craig LaPlante comes to us with a lot of prior firefighting/ leadership experience from the Colton, Cranberry Lake, and Star Lake Fire Departments. Mr. LaPlante recently retired from the State Department of Transportation as a Supervisor and moved to the Potsdam area. Mr. LaPlante spends a lot of his free time as a volunteer firefighter for NASCAR and is very active with the snowmobiling association around this area. Mr. LaPlante is currently certified in many State Fire Courses such as ALTERNATIVE FUELED VEHICLES AND NEW VEHICLE TECHNOLOGY, VICTIM EXTRICATION TRAINING, APPARATUS OPERATOR - AERIAL DEVICE, APPARATUS OPERATOR - EMERGENCY VEHICLE OPERATIONS, BASIC WILDLAND FIRE SUPPRESSION, BASIC WILDLAND SEARCH SKILLS (DEC), SCHOOL BUS RESCUE , CAUSE AND ORIGIN DETERMINATION, CONFINED SPACE: AWARENESS AND SAFETY, DECONTAMINATION, EMERG CONTROL OF HAZ MAT INCIDENTS I, II, III, FIRE BEHAVIOR AND ARSON AWARENESS, FIRE POLICE, FIRE/ARSON INVESTIGATION, FIREFIGHTING ESSENTIALS, INCIDENT SAFETY OFFICER, INITIAL FIRE ATTACK, TRUCK COMPANY OPS, INTRO TO FIRE OFFICER, PUMP OPERATOR, SCENE SUPPORT OPERATIONS, WATER SUPPLY OPERATIONS... to name a few.