October 24, 2026
Irondequoit Town Board OKs Point Pleasant fire border expansion
The vote is the first step in dissolving the Sea Breeze Fire District; a public hearing on the plan is set for Oct. 29.
The Irondequoit Town Board on Tuesday unanimously approved expanding the Point Pleasant Fire District’s borders to include all of the Sea Breeze Fire District, the first step in Sea Breeze’s plan to dissolve.
With Point Pleasant’s commissioners already on record consenting to the expansion, and Sea Breeze’s commissioners having voted Sept. 22 to dissolve, the remaining step is largely procedural: a public hearing and comment session at 6 p.m. Oct. 29 at the Sea Breeze fire station, 4657 Culver Road. If the plan proceeds as proposed, Oct. 31 would be Sea Breeze’s last day as a district, and Point Pleasant’s consolidation of the territory would begin Nov. 1.
Sea Breeze commissioners say they are dissolving because they can’t recruit enough volunteers. The district is down to eight firefighters, and Point Pleasant Chief Kyle Viccaro said four of them have already applied to his department. Point Pleasant has covered Sea Breeze fire calls under mutual aid since 2022 and began automatically responding to its medical calls July 1. Viccaro told the board he is “confident Point Pleasant has the resources necessary to service the expanded district.”
Town Attorney Peter Weishaar opened Tuesday’s hearing by laying out the steps needed for the dissolution to take effect, starting with the board’s vote on the boundaries. No board members commented before the hearing was opened to the public.
Viccaro said Point Pleasant will keep responding from its two stations, on Kings Highway near Irondequoit Town Hall and on Ewer Drive, and has no plans to expand its facilities. He said the department will keep monitoring and studying how the change goes.
He said Point Pleasant responded to 256 Sea Breeze calls from 2022 through 2025 and 89 more through Oct. 15 of this year, for 345 in all. The department averaged nine firefighters per serious incident from 2022 through 2025 and eight in 2026. He did not say what qualifies as a serious incident. The 89 calls this year drew 701 individual firefighter responses.
Average response time, measured from alarm to arrival on scene, was 4 minutes, 51 seconds from 2022 through 2025, based on 190 evaluated records. It rose to about 5 minutes in 2026, though Viccaro said a change in the reporting system makes the periods hard to compare. In 2025, Point Pleasant handled 600 calls in its own district, while Sea Breeze’s district handled 299, he said. Point Pleasant has 55 volunteers on its roster.
Sea Breeze Fire District Commissioner Sarah Clarcq, at times fighting back tears, told the board that commissioners recognized four years ago that the number of volunteers was falling rapidly. Under the mutual aid model, Point Pleasant responded to all Sea Breeze calls and oversaw training of Sea Breeze volunteers. Recruiting didn’t work, she said, which led commissioners to take a “serious look at our fire protection and emergency medical services.” “You’ll have to excuse me. This is a hard thing to do,” she said.
Commissioners voted Sept. 22 to dissolve because they believe it is in everyone’s best interest and “would provide a path long-term stability” for fire and emergency medical services, Clarcq said.
On the finances, she said the two districts’ combined tax levy this year was $1.743 million, including $1.446 million for Point Pleasant and $296,000 for Sea Breeze. Point Pleasant’s proposed 2027 budget calls for a levy of $1.505 million, which she described as significant savings. She said Sea Breeze residents already know Point Pleasant’s responders from four years of mutual aid, and called dissolution a “reasonable path forward.”
Supervisor John Perticone said he is confident in the plan and expects a smooth transition. Council Member Ann Cunningham called it a hard transition for Sea Breeze firefighters and said the board wants to honor their work and generations of service. She thanked both departments.
February 07, 2026
Notice that Hoffman Road will be closed for approximately two hours due to a water main break.
