FXFD Group Pictures for Messenger

[MikeF9]

Dave St. Pierre was at the fire station Tuesday night to get a group picture of the Fairfax Fire Department. The St. Albans Messenger will have their annual salute to local fire and rescue departments in the spring. Helen Hartmann took my camera and got a couple of shots from different angles. Thank you Helen!

[HayesFXFD17]

Thanks for posting this photo Mike and thanks to Helen for taking the photos.

Pictured in the photo are:

Back Row: L to R -  Lucien Hayes, Phillip Clark,Tom Crucitti, Aaron Sanders, Carl Lashomb, Steve Bessette, Kyle Magnuson, Mike Cain, Duane Leach, DJ Leach, James Field
Front Row L to R - Justin Hayes, Dan Vanslette, Jordan Hayes, Dave Yergeau, Tom Snyder, Ryan Parah, Tim Bessette, Pat Bessette, Greg Hartman

[lena6]

A lot of guys for not having day time coverage.

[Henry]

Mike, Thanks for posting the photo and Justin for the identifications - Great Photo Helen

[LauriH]

lena6, the number of men doesn't mean anything when you are talking about an ALL VOLUNTEER  fire department.  The majority of these men are out of town during the day at their paying jobs, supporting themselves and their families.

[mirjo]

Can we repeat that again? The message doesn't seem to get through. It's the same problem the rescue squad has and had so terribly at one point several years ago that AmCare was covering many out of service holes  due to a lack of volunteers. Fairfax Rescue had to hire per diem help to cover shifts or risk closing its doors. Fortunately over the past few years membership increased faster than the rate of attrition and there is a solid number of volunteers again, but still not enough to always completely guarantee weekday coverage. Due to increased call volume and the need to have someone tending to business as well as the need to have someone covering the day shift, the squad looked at other district models and decided to hire an Operations Manager, who would also be the Crew Chief on M-Th, which decreased the volunteer need to a minimum  of one/day. Sometimes there are more (people on), sometimes not, it depends on the day and time. A lot like fire. The ambulance can't roll with one person, but having a guaranteed one makes it easier (for us) to get a second, than if we didn't have anyone to begin with. On any given day, the majority of our 35+ members could cover a night shift and maybe 3 or 4 could cover a day shift. Maybe.

[HayesFXFD17]

I can't resist.........

Please keep in mind this photo was taken at 7:30PM.  Would have been a great photo of the truck with no memebers if we had tried for a noon photo shoot!!!

[Counselor]

I dont like root canals.  I dont like seeing my clients in pain. I dont REALLY like paying my taxes. HOWEVER, I DO NOT like seeing a neighbors house burn or a child go without in the classroom because we chose not to protect our community with a full time fire fighter or teacher/ para-professional in our classrooms.  For those two reasons, (and a few others) I can understand why I pay my taxes and where the money goes. I dont have to REALLY like it, the alternatives are so very much worse though. These volunteers do a tremendous service to all of us. If they do not have the resources to protect each of us, we owe it to ourselves and to them to make sure they do have the resources.

[vtoutdoorguymb]

Would have been a great photo of the truck with no members if we had tried for a noon photo shoot!!!

Ha! Maybe the dept should have a "day shift" photo and a "evening shift" photo lol