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Posted: Sep 18, 2017

Chief: Increase in Calls Putting a Strain on Epping Fire Department

Union Leader Correspondent September 17. 2017 8:32PM About 80 percent of the calls to the Epping Fire Department are for ambulance service. JASON SCHREIBER/UNION LEADER CORRESPONDENT EPPING - With the number of fire and emergency calls continuing to rise, Fire Chief Don DeAngelis told selectmen this week that the days of trying to rely on part-time call firefighters to cover evening shifts are numbered.
Ed. Note: Interesting note here about younger volunteer firefighters coming into the fire service with a different level of commitment. is your department experiencing something similar? Is it a generational difference or is it that it is genuinely harder to commit the time?

DeAngelis warned that after this year the department may have to hire full-time firefighters to handle nights.


“For seven years we’ve been able to do it long after other departments went to full-time, and generally it’s about 1,000 runs a year (before) a department starts to have problems,” DeAngelis said.

The department logged about 1,200 calls in 2015 and 2016, but DeAngelis said that number is expected to surpass 1,300 this year.

About 80 percent of the calls are for the ambulance service, he said.

“Our older members are leaving. The younger members are a different generation. We don’t get the commitment we used to have. The members that are on work their full hours. We have very few exceptions to that … and we just can’t seem to maintain the amount of people we need to staff properly,” DeAngelis said.
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Posted: Sep 18, 2017

Lovingly Restored 1919 pumper Returns to Fire Department

The Modesto Fire Department's first motorized pumper truck, a 1919 Seagrave, is back home and will be the showpiece of a historical display being assembled for the MFD's original station on 11th Street. The truck was brought to Station 1 on Thursday, after long-retired Modesto Junior College counselor Bill Spidell spent 12 years or more restoring it.

Ed. Note: Preserving the history of our fire departments is critical. We learn from the past and gain a greater appreciation for what the founders of our fire deprtments sacrificed to bring them into service.

The truck was brought to Station 1 on Thursday, after long-retired Modesto Junior College counselor Bill Spidell spent 12 years or more restoring it. Spidell and his wife, Alma, bought the old engine in 2002 for $3,500, and MFD Interim Chief Alan Ernst said it cost them thousands more to bring it back to its original condition.


The restoration was largely complete in 2014, but the Spidells held onto it until a secure place to house and display it could be found.


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Posted: Sep 18, 2017

City Fire Department Adds New Truck

HAZLETON - The city fire department has welcomed a new family member. Rescue 3 - a 2018 KME rescue/pumper truck -joined the city's fleet of three pumpers and two aerial trucks Friday at 10:30 a.m. The $455,000 custom-built vehicle was ordered in August 20

Ed. Note: It is critical to plan ahead for replacing vehicles. Whether your deprtment leases or purchases the rig, managing finances to ensure it is prepared to replace a vehicle is essential to firefighters' safety responding to, operating at, and returning from incidents.

The $455,000 custom-built vehicle was ordered in August 2016 and purchased with federal Community Development funds through a six-year lease-to-own deal.


Since 2002, all fire department apparatus has been purchased with Community Development money, Fire Chief Donald Leshko said. Each year about $6,000 or less will come out of the general fund to pay interest, he said.


The apparatus replaces a 1992 pumper truck that was purchased out of the city’s general fund.


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Posted: Sep 18, 2017

Photos: MAAC Firefighter Training Facility

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Posted: Sep 18, 2017

Record Numbers Turn Out in Force for Fifth Annual 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb

APPLETON, Wis. -  Northeast Wisconsin and its surrounding communities turned out in large numbers earlier today to participate in and support the fifth annual 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb at historic Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis. A total of 2,169 area residents, firefighters, and local businesses came together to pay tribute to all of the firefighters who served, and to those who sacrificed their lives, at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. This year’s event raised $110,000 and was recognized as one of the largest stair climbs in the nation. 

Since its inception, Green Bay Metro Fire Department and Pierce Manufacturing have sponsored the 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb event at Lambeau Field. All proceeds from the event directly benefit the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation (NFFF) and its important work assisting the families of fallen firefighters (through support networks, conferences, workshops, and scholarships) and reducing firefighter deaths (through educational and training programs). 

Stair climb participants were given the opportunity to climb the equivalent of 110 stories – the height of the fallen World Trade Center towers – on the steps of Lambeau Field. Each climber was given a badge, with the name and photograph of one of the fallen firefighters so they could climb, symbolically, alongside one of the fallen.

 

About National Fallen Firefighters Foundation

The National Fallen Firefighters Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization with a Congressional mandate to honor all firefighters who die in the line of duty in the United States. The National Fallen Firefighters Foundation is the only fire service organization that represents every facet of the American fire service – career, volunteer and wildland. The Foundation has created education and training programs to reduce firefighter deaths. The Foundation has no allegiance to any special interest. For more information, visit www.firehero.org

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