FREDONIA — The Village of Fredonia is in for a rare treat this week.

An estimated 3,000 volunteer firefighters arrive Wednesday from 50 fire departments to attend the 101st annual Southwestern Association of Volunteer Firemen Convention.

The village Fire Department is hosting the event through Saturday, the first time since 1957 the convention has been held in Fredonia.

At 3:30 p. m. Thursday, in the 1891 Fredonia Opera House, Clarence Center Fire Chief Dave Case and Tiger Schmittendorf, deputy fire coordinator of the Erie County Division of Fire Safety, will talk about the coordination, communications and cooperation that went into the recovery efforts following the crash of Continental Connection Flight 3407 in Clarence Center on Feb. 12. Fifty people died.

In a seminar titled “Bringing Calm to Chaos: Coordinating the Recovery of the Crash of Continental Flight 3407,” the two men will demonstrate how training, teamwork and effective implementation of the incident command system played an important role in the response to the crash. Schmittendorf will offer an overview of the local, county, state and federal agencies and the more than 1,000 responders who cooperated in quickly restoring calm to the small community in northern Erie County.

Registration is from 4 to 7 p. m. Wednesday at American Legion Post 59, 156 E. Main St. There is a kickoff dinner from 5 to 8 p. m. at the Beaver Club, followed by a street dance beginning at 7 in Barker Common.

The convention awards ceremony is set for 9:30 p. m. Friday in the Opera House.

Other events planned include a grand parade Saturday beginning at 3 p. m. downtown; firematic competitions, including a hose race at 2 p. m. Thursday and a water battle at 1 p. m. Friday at the Murphy Training Grounds, Brigham Road, Dunkirk; and an antique fire muster and classic car show from 9 a. m. to 1 p. m. Saturday in downtown.

For more information on the convention, visit

www.swavf.com

or

www.fredoniafire.org

.