Thank you!
Your support is sustaining the future of local news in our communities.

Grateful for MFC, let’s stay safe

It’s mid-December, a joyous time for most who are thick in the grip of their holiday celebrations — shopping, baking, wrapping, visiting — doing all of those things that make us most jolly.

While we never like to place a damper on the seasonal festivities, we would like to, just for a moment, redirect our readers’ focus to glance back on what happened in our community roughly a month ago, on Nov. 6.

Early that Saturday morning, the Millerton Fire Company (MFC) rushed into a home on South Elm Avenue (Route 22), with as many as eight fire departments backing it up in addition to those on stand-by, saving lives, as the Yang family saw its house ignite into flames.

Nearly 50 of our volunteer firefighters from around the region risked their lives — as they have at countless calls — while their axes chopped through scorching walls, while their bodies were assaulted with splintering glass, while their lungs were flooded with toxic smoke and while their helmets were pelted with shards and shingles from the falling roof.

Yet those are the kinds of dangerous conditions our firemen and women contend with time and again when in the line of duty.

In the case of the South Elm house fire that fateful November morning, sadly, two of our Millerton neighbors didn’t make it out alive. The MFC and other departments not only had to deal with the physical toll of that tragedy, but with the emotional anguish.

We can’t stress how deeply we appreciate all that our firefighters and other emergency workers do, whether here in the village of Millerton and town of North East or elsewhere throughout the Harlem Valley.

When the Millerton Fire Company responded to Golden Wok owner Amy Yang’s home on Nov. 6, we can say with absolute confidence they saved lives.

Along with the rest of the community, we continue to mourn the loss of Mrs. Yang’s daughter, 24-year-old Jenny Yang, and another resident at the home, 30-year-old Wangdi Tamang.

We know there were other heroes that day who helped save people trapped in the Yang home. To all who ran into the burning building to rescue some of those stuck in what was at that point an extremely unsafe structure fully engulfed in flames — you are indeed amazing.

So, too, are all in the community who have taken the initiative to help the immediate survivors of the fire and other nearby residents who were also displaced by the blaze.

A number of locals have started GoFundMe pages to help fundraise for neighbors left homeless by the tragedy.

Others have started community food drives, household good drives and even furniture collections to get the families back on their feet.

For details on those initiatives and ways to contribute, please read this week’s front page story by Millerton News reporter Kaitlin Lyle.

Tips to stay safe

Which brings us to the fact that we are on the cusp of winter, set to officially begin on Tuesday, Dec. 21. That means more people in the Northeast will be revving up their heating appliances and other incendiary devices. We thought this would therefore be a good time to reinforce some safety tips.

For starters, make sure your smoke detectors work, have fresh batteries and are placed in the proper locations. One local fire chief recommended that if you’re buying a smoke detector to pick up a combo-kit with a CO2 unit; he added that there are now smoke detectors with batteries that last seven years. Once the batteries expire, the units can be thrown away.

If you are installing wood stoves and/or fireplaces, have them installed to code and get them certified by a certified installer. Your local municipal building inspector should give his or her blessing.

Clean all of your chimneys annually; they should be swept down to the firebox.

Those with boilers should have them maintained, cleaned and certified annually by someone who is licensed to do so.

For the holidays, be careful with Christmas trees and other holiday decorations. Many people don’t properly hydrate their trees. A dry Christmas tree can go ablaze “like paper going up,” said one fire chief, who “strongly recommends unplugging lights on the tree at night.” Christmas lights can also short circuit, he warned.

These are some basic, common-sense tips to stay safe this winter and holiday season. As always, keep papers away from heaters no matter the heat source.

Bottom line, do your part to stay safe so the firefighters we value so highly can also stay safe and snug — inside their firehouses — and not have to show up at your house to fight a fire that could easily have been prevented.

Latest News

Legal Notices - July 9, 2026

Legal Notices - July 9, 2026

Legal Notice

Notice of Formation of Kaits Kleaning LLC. Art. Of Org. filed with SSNY on 05-22-2026. Office Lo-cation: Dutchess county. SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 24 Attlebury Hill Road, Standfordville NY 12581.

Keep ReadingShow less
Tenmile Distillery is making history the old-fashioned way

Cheers! The Revolutionary Whisky Series at Ten Mile Distillery, each named for a significant battle of the American Revolution, celebrates America at 250.

D.H. Callahan

In December 2024, the U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau officially established the Standard of Identity for American Single Malt Whisky. It was the first new classification in more than half a century, creating new possibilities for American distillers. One of the distilleries taking advantage of this new landscape is Wassaic’s Tenmile Distillery. It is well positioned to make history because Tenmile has always honored traditional whiskey-making practices.

Single malts are often associated with Scotch whisky. Perhaps that’s why, years before the new standard was adopted, Tenmile hired Shane Fraser, a Scottish master distiller with 30 years of experience at some of Scotland’s most prestigious distilleries. Fraser began designing the distillery from the ground up. Alongside owner and general manager Joel LeVangia, he emphasized time-honored traditions, favoring hands-on craftsmanship over the increasingly automated methods used by larger producers. When it comes to making the best whisky possible, Tenmile believes in learning from the past. That philosophy extends beyond the distilling process.

Keep ReadingShow less

The magic of Belinda Sinclair

The magic of Belinda Sinclair

Belinda Sinclair

Dean Chamberlain
Sinclair’s show explores the ways women have been practicing forms of magic for centuries, and there is plenty of history to tell.

Belinda Sinclair is the kind of magician who impresses people who don’t like magic. Her tricks are mind-boggling. Her stories are captivating. And if she picks you to write your name on a card, get ready to be wowed. Repeat attendees of her shows, of which there are many, take almost as much delight in watching new jaws drop as they do in seeing an illusion reach its astonishing conclusion.

Since the summer of 2025, Sinclair has been baffling local audiences at the Hughes Memorial Library in West Cornwall, but her magical run comes to a close at the end of August.

Keep ReadingShow less
google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.

“Nixon in China” comes to Tanglewood

“Nixon in China” comes to Tanglewood

Renée Fleming, Andris Nelsons and Thomas Hampson.

Hilary Scott

On Friday, July 17 at 8 p.m. in the Koussevitzky Music Shed at Tanglewood, two of the greatest American voices of their generation, soprano Renée Fleming and baritone Thomas Hampson, join Music Director Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony Orchestra in a performance of excerpts from John Adams’ groundbreaking opera “Nixon in China.” The piece, performed earlier this year in Boston and at Carnegie Hall in New York City, is a highlight of a program that also includes “Meditations on Grace” (2024) by BSO Composer Chair Carlos Simon, and the melodic and technically demanding Violin Concerto by Samuel Barber.

Fleming is internationally celebrated for her vocal and dramatic artistry, as well as for her advocacy for the powerful impact of the creative arts in health. Hampson has long been recognized as one of the most innovative musicians of our time and has received countless international honors for his singular artistry and cultural leadership. Both performed in “Nixon in China” earlier this year at the Paris Opera under the baton of Kent Nagano.

Keep ReadingShow less
Local playwright revisits Revolutionary moment in “Rebel Town”

The cast and crew of “Rebeltown: The Musical.”

Jack Sheedy

John Alan Segalla was working in Boston a few years ago, giving historic tours at the site of the Boston Tea Party. Now, as America celebrates 250 years as a nation, the Canaan native is about to debut a new version of his original musical, “Rebel Town,” inspired largely by the Boston Tea Party, the protest that helped launch the American Revolution.

“It wasn’t until I got to Boston and learned the Tea Party story that I fell in love with this moment in history, and I saw the story as wildly compelling and very important, and really a story that was very misunderstood, mistaught in schools,” Segalla said at a recent rehearsal in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, ahead of the show’s July 10 opening.

Keep ReadingShow less
An invitation to paint a community mural in Torrington

Community mural design by Macayla Muzzulin will be painted by volunteers on July 11 in Franklin Plaza in Torrington.

Provided

From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, July 11, Five Points Arts in Torrington will host a community mural project celebrating the nation’s 250th anniversary. Volunteers of every age and artistic ability are invited to help paint a 20-by-6-foot mural designed by artist Macayla Muzzulin. The mural will be completed in one day, transformed from a numbered outline into a permanent public artwork along the river in downtown Torrington.

“We firmly believe art is for everyone,” said Five Points founder and executive director, Judith McElhone. “It’s so great to be able to do this with such talent, and with Launchpad artists, volunteers and staff there to help.”

Keep ReadingShow less
google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.

google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.