Another Thanksgiving Holiday has come and gone. As always, I ate too much yesterday. While I was laying on our couch like the proverbial "beached whale", I was reading an article about the origins of the Thanksgiving Holiday. In school we were all taught that the Pilgrims started the tradition and Abraham Lincoln made it a National Holiday. While that is all true, the idea of giving thanks as a nation was George Washington's idea. He spoke more on the topic of gratitude. The new president knew he had to lead this new nation to develop it's own national culture. He knew that these new Americans were courageous, assertive and independent. He wanted gratitude to be a corner stone of this new culture. Gratitude; not only being thankful for what we have, but to be self-less and humble. As Firefighters, we pride ourselves on our courage, assertiveness and selflessness. Yet, there are times when each of us needs to reflect on our modestly and our humility. Often, when we arrive on scene, we arrive as if we're the cavalry here to save the day. We need to show some gratitude for the people who need our services. Overall, we do a good job at that. We just can't loose sight of it. "...I serve in a position of public trust..."
----
OPEN SHIFTS: December: 3, 7, 9, 24, 25, 26. January 2. All 0700-1900.
These shifts can be broken down into blocks. If you can do any part of a shift, please let me know.
----
Students and Christmas Break: As happens at this time each year, the students will be going home for winter break soon. This means the station will be staffed with only 1 Firefighter/EMT/EVO during the overnight.
----
Staffing Schedule: The schedule for next year will be posted prior to December 3rd. As I have said previously, the preferred on-duty qualifications for scheduled or templeted shifts are FF2, EMTB and EVO2, The new schedule will adhere to the preferred qualifications. When a vacancy occurs in a scheduled or templeted shift, dropping to acceptable qualifications of FF1, EMTB & EVO1, may happen. This will be done on a case-by-case basis. Please see me if you have any questions or concerns.
----
Recruiting: The National Volunteer Fire Council has developed a webportal to assist with recruitment. http://portal.nvfc.org/about This link contains a video that explains this portal. Any member of our department can sign up to use the portal. It has a lot of material to help get our message out. This is a resource that we need to tap.
----
Call Volume: This afternoon we ran call #650 for the year. On this day last year we ran call #596. We ended 2014 with 663 calls for service. This year we've typically run 50 calls per month. We're on track to break 700 calls this year.
----
Fire Permits: Wednesday was the last day of this year for predicted class days to be posted by the Forest Service. Class day will resume in the spring. We will continue to determine issuing permits based on wind conditions and snow cover. If predicted wind speeds are over 10 mph, do not issue permits.
----
EVO3 Testing: An EVO3 test is scheduled for 0900 on Sunday, December 13th.
----
Firefighter Fatalities in the United States in 2014 analyzes the circumstances surrounding 91 on-duty fatalities to identify approaches that could reduce the number of firefighter deaths in future years. Download the report at ww.usfa.fema.gov/data/statistics/ff_fatality_reports.html
----
Advanced EMT Class: APEMS and YCCC will be offering an A-EMT class in Biddeford starting in January. Flyer is on the buletin board. FMI www.apems.org
----
EMS Class offerings at West Kennebunk:
12 Lead Review: 12/09 1800-2100 No fee or registration required. Instructor- Mertz
Advanced Medical Life Support (AMLS): 01/29-1/30 Register thru United Education- web site http://www.unitedambulance.com/EducationDivisionMenu.htm AMLS is the leading prehospital advanced medical assessment and treatment program that offers a "think outside the box" diagnosis methodology and is endorsed by the National Association of EMS Physicians.
Principles of Ethics and Personal Leadership (PEPL): 01/23-24 Register thru KFD ($100)- includes book Instructor Nangle, Garriepy. PEPL provides EMS and Mobile Integrated Healthcare (MIH) practitioners at all levels with the skills they need to effectively interact with patients and their families, medical personnel, coworkers, supervisors and the community. Course topics include personal and professional core values, ethics, decision-making, duty to serve and conflict resolution.
KFR will also we be hosting an AEMT class- United- January start, EMT class- APEMS- January start. To be scheduled in 2016; ACLS (2 offerings), PEPP (1 offering), PHTLS (2 offerings), AMLS (1 more offering), PALS (2 offerings), PEPL (fall offering).
----
Joint Special Joint meeting of the Lyman and Dayton Select Boards: Monday, December 7th 2015 at 5:30 p.m. at the Lyman Town hall, 11 So. Waterboro Rd. Lyman. The purpose of this meeting will be to discuss the Goodwins Mills Fire Rescue (GMFR) Interlocal Agreement. The public is welcome. The Board reserves the right to discuss any other pending Town matters.
----
Maine State Weekend at the NFA: This year's weekend will be May 15-16. We'll be attending with Florida again.
----
Events Next Week: Tuesday, Alpha Co, GMFRA, Thursday, Officers.
----
Be safe,
Chief
-----
Roger S. Hooper, Fire Chief
Goodwins Mills Fire-Rescue
481 Goodwins Mills Road
Lyman, ME 04002
Office: 207-499-7878
Station: 207-499-2362
Fax: 207-499-2893
www.gmfd.org
