Gorham Fire Department

347 Main Street

Gorham, New Hampshire 03581

(603)-466-2549

Email gfd61@ncia.net

December 27, 2000

Dear Members:

I am writing to all the member of the department to congratulate everyone on the outstanding year the department had training. In the year of 2000, the department has record 917 hours of training. We have a member with 52 hours of training and the departments average is 20 hours per firefighter. Twenty-nine members have at least 10 hours of training. It is my hopes that this will continue into the feature.

The training committee worked hard to set up a schedule that would give everyone a chance to train. They try to find diverse subject that cover all aspects of firefighting. The committee felt it was necessary to touch on subject such as safety, equipment, and procedures. The training schedule takes into consideration the weather, so we are inside during the cold months and outside during the warmer months, although we have gotten caught in the rain a few times.

The committee understand that everyone needs to prioritize there time, that is why we have training once a month and at the monthly meetings. We feel that members should be able to find the time to make a few sessions with in the year if there is enough training schedule.

Comments from those that attend the trainings are on the most part favorable. The trainings are mostly fun and hands on, although there are a few lectures thrown in; but the topics and speakers are worth hearing.

It is very import that all members of the fire department attend the meetings and trainings sessions, because we are starting to use the incident command system. The incident command system takes practice to get right and during a real incident is not the time to start learning something new. We are also purchasing new SCBA, and again it is not time to be fumbling with something new at an incident.

Again I would like to congratulate everyone on a successful year both in training and the way we are working together. I believe that is because of the time we are putting into training. For those who have not seen your individual training hour, I post a new list in the training room after each training session.

Take Care,

Rick Eichler

Fire Chief

"...Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other. The advancement of learning depends on community leadership for financial and political support -- and the products of that learning, in turn, are essential to the leadership's hopes for continued progress and prosperity..."
(to have been delivered at Dallas, Texas, November 22, 1963.)