The Fire Department had a normal year of responses up to October when we had two structure fires in a span of three days. This was quite out of the ordinary for us to have two major fires so close together, but, certainly it can and does occur. Despite this occurrence, our run counts for the year were at an average level when compared with the last five years.

As many of you are aware, we received the endorsement of Town Meeting to order a new fire truck to replace our 1964 International. I appointed a truck committee of four members who worked quickly, diligently and effectively to design this truck. We ordered it in April and the truck was delivered to us on January 3rd of 2007. Unfortunately, and through no fault of ours, the truck was built with the wrong size water tank which has necessitated a reconstruction that will delay the in-service date until sometime in April of 2007. Without question we are disappointed, but, the amount of water we carry on our first truck is vital and I could not accept a lower capacity than myself and the truck committee had requested. We will look forward to the truck’s re-arrival in the spring when it will start it’s career in Bridgewater.

As we look forward to our future, we continue to see diminished availability of manpower as our number one concern. Finding people to serve on the Department, both Fire and EMS, is challenging as the commitment can be large. This problem is certainly not unique to Bridgewater as every Town in this area is confronting the same problem. We continue to design systems, such as the new fire truck, to operate with fewer people due to this problem. We also see that our neighbors have compounded this problem by offering contracted EMS service to other communities. Although the concept has merit (sharing a resource), in practice, it does not always deliver necessary levels of service when it is needed. It was our determination in 2001 that we had to develop the ability to stand on our own in the area of EMS and we have succeeded to do so. We continue to use, and honor in return, our Mutual Aid obligations to our neighbors as this does allow the sharing of all resource capabilities to achieve a level of service you deserve.

As a final note, please check your smoke detectors and fire extinguishers for readiness. It can save your life and make our job easier.