2025 HEALTHIEST FIRE DEPARTMENT CHALLENGE
Bloomingburg Fire Co. at the Start of Peace, Love & Lights Walk-Thru Mondays at Bethel Woods.
Lighting the Path to Wellness
[LIBERTY, NY] Entering its third year, the Sullivan 180 Healthiest Fire Department Challenge is set to kick off on January 1, 2025. To date, 16 of Sullivan County’s Volunteer Fire Departments have signed up to participate. To kick off the challenge, departments gathered with their members, friends and families to walk the 1.7-mile illuminated trail at Peace, Love & Lights at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts.
The Healthiest Fire Department Challenge calls attention to the mental and physical health of our firefighters. Firefighting is physically and emotionally demanding from the moment the tones drop. More than half of all firefighters have elevated blood pressure; are obese and pre-diabetic. 90% or more have poor diet or exercise habits, additionally, suffering from heart disease, PTSD and lead in suicide more than any other first responder. Firefighters are consistently managing the balance between family, work and serving their community. Absorbing the trauma of each call has impacts that are not always visible or obvious.
“We learned about better eating habits, cardiac health, and became more aware of the importance of fire responder mental health as a group,” said Nate Routledge, Chief of Roscoe-Rockland Fire Department. “This challenge did exactly what it intended to do, it brought us together as a group, it got our families together and made us get back to the days where we would socialize and spend time together away from drill nights and fire calls.”
To date the 2025 Participating Fire Departments are: Bloomingburg, Callicoon Center, Grahamsville, Hortonville, Jeffersonville, Kauneonga Lake, Liberty, Livingston Manor, Lumberland, Monticello, Narrowsburg-Lava, Rock Hill, Roscoe-Rockland, Smallwood-Mongaup Valley, White Lake, Woodbourne and Woodridge.
To make the challenge fun and competitive, departments receive credit in the form of ‘turtle points’ for each health focused activity they complete. The department that earns the most turtles will be eligible for grant funding through Sullivan 180 and community partners.
Grant levels are based on the final points completed by September 1, 2025. The two departments that earn the most turtle points will be eligible for a grant in the amount of $15,000 and $10,000, respectively. Additional grants will be awarded based on a tiered point system. Winners will be announced at the Sullivan County Volunteer Firefighters Parade in Monticello on September 6, 2025.
During last year’s challenge, departments chose healthier food options, increased physical activity, trained in suicide prevention, and recognized the sense of comradery that returned to their houses and between departments. (With a little competition as well.) Monticello Fire was named the Healthiest Fire Department and awarded a well-deserved grant in the amount of $15,000. Roscoe-Rockland Fire was awarded a $10,000 grant, coming in second. To follow the challenge and the participating departments, visit Sullivan180.org.