Community Connections

Showing Up Beyond Emergencies

SHFPD’s role in Sleepy Hollow goes well past emergency response. In 2009, the District began mailing a quarterly newsletter to every resident — its first direct line of communication with the community it serves. A year later, SHFPD moved its Board meetings out of Directors’ living rooms and into the SHHA Clubhouse, ending a fifty-one-year tradition of meetings held in people’s homes.

A Growing Presence

That presence deepened in the 2020s. In 2022, the District opened its first dedicated office, in a long-term lease at the Sleepy Hollow Community Center, and stocked the Center with emergency supplies residents can turn to during a disaster. That same year, a Sleepy Hollow resident donated a retired wildland-urban fire response vehicle; SHFPD restored it and put it back into service by 2024.

In 2024, the District also completed a Fire Smart Public Demonstration Garden at the Community Center — designed by landscape architect Ann Baker of Land Culture LLP — giving residents a walkable example of fire-resistant landscaping, and giving students from Archie Williams High School’s Wildfire Club a place to learn firsthand.