Jan1

Written by:
1/1/2010 2:45 PM 

I hope everyone had a good Christmas and I wish each of you and your families a healthy and happy new year.
The business meeting for December was held at station 3, the mem- bership attending voted in the new by laws. The last step of the proc- ess for the new by laws will be the presentation at the BOD meeting on Jan 5th for approval from the board. After approval, a copy will be placed in your mailbox at Station 1. At the December business meet- ing officers were also selected and ratified by the membership. (See complete list on page 2).
As all of you know, Kathy Hogan has served as EMS Lieutenant for the past two years. In November she advised me that she will not have time to be EMS Lieutenant for 2010. She stated her full time business was keeping her very busy and she felt she did not have the time to do job necessary for the position. During her tenure as Lieutenant, Kathy’s contributions to the department have been many, and very much appreciated. Thank you Kathy for your time and efforts that helped make our vision a reality.
A quick look back at 2009... we have realized some of our signifi- cant goals.
One of the more pronounced achievements is the pride that has devel- oped within the department. The pride and confidence that has evolved has also led to a very cohesive membership, able to deliver a professional service to the community we serve. We have seen that this is evident in working incidents on EMS calls and Fire calls. The progression of the services we provide and how we provide those services are a testament to the time, dedication and commitment by everyone involved with the department.
Some of our other achievements have been the contract signing for station 5 on CR 117. This project is scheduled to begin shortly, weather dependant, and should be completed by April 2010. In addi- tion, the contract for the purchase of a new Pierce engine was signed and the truck should arrive by mid summer. Both of these projects
have allowed the department to stay on tract in meeting our 2009 long-range goals.
In the past year, we have been able to secure over $240,000 in grant money, which has allowed the department to move forward with the construction of station 5, and purchase much needed equipment.
Looking forward in 2010...
We will be working on advancing our structural fire fighting skills and capabilities. This will be a 3 step process,
We will start out with the Fire Fighter II class starting in January; with the completion of the Fire Fighter II program we will have some ad- vanced fire fighting live burns at the tower in Farmington. We will also arrange more trips to Farmington, later in the year, for live burns at the tower.
At the same time I will be working with our members on our Engi- neer skills with driver and pumping operations. As we have seen on calls, the more we train, the more automatic we become when work- ing on an incident.
As I stated earlier, we will see the completion of station 5, the deliv- ery of the new engine by mid summer and the conversion of engine 74 to a tanker this winter.
The combination of training, the addition of equipment and apparatus placement will enable us to better serve our community, but most importantly, it keeps our fire fighters safer while they are able to de- liver a more effective and efficient service while operating on an inci- dent.
It has been my pleasure to work with such an energetic, committed group of people in 2009 and I look forward to all that we will accom- plish together in 2010.
Happy New Y ear!