Litchfield Fire Department 50th Anniversary Committee

(unofficial page)

Litchfield NH 03052

Last updated: July 1999

1996: A YEAR IN PROSPECTIVE

On Monday, May 13, 1996, exactly fifty years to the very day, the Litchfield Fire Department celebrated it's 50th Anniversary at the fire station. In attendance were such guests as State Senator Thomas Colantuano, State Representatives Leon Calawa, Jr., Loren Jean, Selectmen John Lazzaro, John Pinciaro, Patricia Jewett, fire department personnel, former chiefs, members of the 50th Anniversary Committee and town residents. After introductions and several presentations, the anniversary cake was cut by Chief Brent Lemire and former chiefs. Refreshments were served.

The Litchfield Fire Department also received several congratulatory letters from other Litchfields throughout the United States, and letters from the Governor of New Hampshire and it's Congressional delegation.

The celebration continued as the fire department welcomed the public to Roy Memorial Park(Darrah Pond) on Saturday August 17, 1996, to join them in their Muster Mania and Field Day. A flag raising ceremony started off the day. Among the activies were the ever popular dunk tank, moon walk, a reptile exhibit, a ball pool, several relay races and games for children, a pie eating contest and the main event the Firemen's Muster, pitting fire department personnel against groups from the Litchfield Women's Club and the Litchfield Community Presbyterian Church. Two raffles during the day were held, the winner of the 50/50 drawing was Chris Lepine of Talent Road and the winner of the First Alert Smoke detector was Ann McKillop of Lance Ave. Several candidates running for office, such ad Bill Zeliff, Mike Hammond and Charles Bass came and greeted the public.

The final event was on Saturday October ,1996 when the fire department put on an Octoberfest at the Passaconway Country Club. A large number of residents as well as fire department personnel came to honor several former chiefs during this celebration. The night was topped off by dancing and music.
During the following years, the fire chief continued to be elected by the firemen or appointed by the Selectmen until March 10, 1959, when the office of the fire chief became an elected position.

FIFTY YEARS OF SERVICE


The Litchfield Fire Department was formed on Monday May 13, 1946. The information meeting called to order by J. Wesley French was held at the School House. Elected to serve as its first officers were J. Wesley French, Chief Fire Ward and President; Charles B. Campbell, Clerk; Sylvester Reid, First Assistant; and Henry Plouff, Jr.; Second Assistant. The following is a copy of the original minutes of that meeting:


















In the 1940's and 1950's fire fighters were called on the phone one at a time when they were needed. Because they had party lines, Chief Robert Jerry's wife would try giving the phone a very long ring. Often someone had to run out to the field with the message. The first fire phone number in Litchfield was 1-2-7 Ring 2.

In the late 1940's the town purchased a 38' International truck. Robert Jerry attached a 750 gallon tank and trailer pump motor to it. It moved slow from the weight of the water, but work well.

From 1949-1959, when Robert Jerry was chief, the fire truck was housed at the Litchfield Garage for $240 dollars a year. Even now there is still a crack on the floor from the weight of the truck. Richard and his father cut up to 15 cords of wood a year to keep the garage heated.

The fire department housed its equipment at the French homestead, the residence adjacent to the school, at the Broadview Farm and at the Litchfield Garage. The firemen at their May 26, 1954 meeting discussed construction of a fire station, but it was not until March 13, 1957 that a building committee consisting of Leon Calawa, Jr., Eugene Pelkey and George Adams was named. Fred McQuesten donated the sand and gravel while George Adams donated the use of two cement mixers. The construction of the two bay station was accomplished over the next several years with volunteer labor, donated materials, monies from fund-raisers ant the town. Sterling Colby donated the lumber. The only problem was that the "lumber" was still growing in the forest. The fire department gathered every weekend to cut down the wood and bring it to the SawMill. The town did not own the land under the fire station until the early fifties. It was purchased from Mrs. Repman who owned what is now the Chamberlin residence.

In April 1973 the Insurance Services Offices of New Hampshire presented to the selectmen a list of recommend improvements the town would need to have its fire department officially recognized. This would also set the insurance rates for the community based on the location of hydrants vs. Homes. The department at the time had fourteen actual members, owned one tanker and had no operable pumper.

In October 1975 Litchfield entered its new "lime yellow" fire truck in its Fire Prevention Week parade. The truck was obtained in June through the Bear Brook Forestry Division. The department's Autocar had finally been abandoned when its latest problem, a broken axle, finally led the department to give up on it. The "new" truck was a 1955 GMC 6x6 Army surplus vehicle modified for use as brush fire unit by department members. The town acquired its Pierce 1,000 gpm fire truck in March 1976 at a cost of $35,000. Delivery had taken two years. It was designated as Engine #2.

In a town meeting in March 1979 an addition to the fire house was approved to accommodate another new engine. In June the department started the addition to its 20 year old structure at no cost to the town. Two Litchfield businesses agree to donate the cement blocks. Rick Charboneau agreed to do the site preparation work before the construction began. The department got used overhead glass doors and the addition was completed. In July of that year, former Charles Manson family member, Linda Kasabian, was one of the nine people charged with rioting and interfering with fire apparatus from an April bonfire that got out of hand. The state was under a severe fire danger rating. The group had started the fire on Rt. 3A without a permit and tried to stop the fire department from extinguishing it. The new fire engine was slightly damaged in the altercation, when a gang member kicked in one of the doors.

In February 1980 a suspicious fire destroyed the 72 year-old Naumkeag Grange Hall,(the hall was the scene of dances, balls, plays, and Saturday Night Socials). A neighbor reported seeing someone leaving the historical building shortly before the fire started. In April, while firefighters battled a 3 and ½ acre brush fire on Page Road, a hot spot flared up around the forestry truck causing $500-$1000 in damage. In May, a 140 acre brush fire devastated the Town's forest fire budget. It took days to extinguish all the hot spots. Some 200 firefighters and volunteers, from 16 committees battled the blaze, which started along the power lines at the Londonderry-Litchfield town line. This happened exactly 50 years after Nashua's Crown Hill fire. In August, the new Pierce 1000 gpm pumper, designated as Engine #1 was delivered and place in service. At the same time, Assistant Chief Richard Jerry completed work on a 4500 gallon trailer to be used as a water tanker. The unit, designated as Tanker #2 was pulled by a used 1970 Mack tractor, acquired from Holmes Transportation for $4,800. In December, Litchfield's new Engine #1 and Tanker #2 was a part of the Mutual Aid attempt to save the Elms in Manchester. Unfortunately it was destroyed dispite the effort.

In March 1982 a controversy erupted over the absence of women on the fire department's force. Some women, who drove school buses, had already asked to join the department. The Fire Chief at the time said men didn't want to work with women, and the firefighter's wives "objected to the husbands attending training sessions at night with women." The first two women were appointed in 1984 And 1985 were Suzanne Sullivan and Lori Flood.

In October of 1983, a resident drove over an embankment on Rt. 3A and was trapped in her car for two days before someone spotted her car and called for help. Her husband hadn't reported her missing, thinking she might be off visiting friends. The fire department extricated her and stabilized her for transport to the hospital.

In March of 1984, the 150 year-old Broadview Farm house burned to the ground. It was believed that the fire was set. In the course of fighting the fire, Chief Tom Levesque fell head first off the burning second floor to the bottom, he was not hurt. In April of the year a fire destroyed the Litchfield drive-in. This fire resulted in the first fire fatality, as the owner, Mrs. Theresa Dufault succumbed to burns and smoke inhalation.

On March 29, 1985, a fire at Olson's Mobile Home Park destroyed the home of Francis Decoteaux. Mr. Decoteaux was hospitalized with burns.


In 1986, the Town's first Complete School Fire Prevention Program was established and the new rescue boat was obtained.

On October 19, 1987, two young children and their mother parished in an early morning fire on Campbell Drive. It was the worse of life at any fire in Litchfield's history. The loss of the Sherrick family was deeply felt. In the year following, the Town's Fire Prevention week was expanded to include an essay at the Junior High level. An open house and demonstration at the Fire Station was planned. Mr. Sherrick worked to form the Sherrick Family Memorial Fire Prevention Fund, the primary purpose of which is to provide every school aged child in Litchfield the best fire prevention material and messages possible. Also in 1987 Doug Nicoll and Mike Stanhope because our first two full time fire fighters.

On December 4, 1991 the new tanker/pumper arrived.

In 1992, two fire department personnel, Timothy Kearns and Dwayne Hogencamp received their degrees as Paramedics. (Each fire fighter must be state certified by taking Fire Fighter Level 1 course consisting of 110 hours of training.)

On July 1, 1995 the Emergency Response number 9-1-1 was put into effect in Litchfield. On December 3rd we received a 1250 gpm red pumper which became the new Engine #2.

In June of 1996 the Litchfield Fire Department received their latest acquisition, "The Jaws of Life" which since has been used on several occasions and with great success.

Between 1984 and 1995, (when the information has been readily available to the public in the Town's annual report), there have been a total of 3,178 calls answered by the Litchfield Fire Department. They include 451 fires(structures, vehicles, brush, rubbish and others), 2,338 Special service calls, 61 false alarms and 328 accidental alarms. Also since 1984 the Litchfield Fire Department's personnel have completed well over 1200 hours(mostly voluntary) of training in both fire fighting and emergency skills.

FIRE CHIEFS
(Interviewed by Diane Jerry and Patricia Jewett)

The following are interview with all available former Litchfield fire chiefs and/or members of their families.

First Chief: J. Wesley "Farmer" French 1946-1949.

Farmer French was not a farmer, but a salesman. He moved to Litchfield from Massachusetts, where he eventually returned. Bill McElwain bought his place(big white house south of Griffin Memorial School).

He found an oil truck, with no doors, that became the first fire truck, because he was a salesman and was always on the road. The firemen held fund-raisers to come up with the money to buy it.


Second Chief: Robert G. Jerry 1949-1959

He went to Fire School in the Navy, because he was a welder and had to learn "Damage Control" to combat electrical and other fires.

Before the fire department was formed, town clerk Isaac Center was the fire warden for both the Town and the state.

The money for the first fire truck was raised by selling tickets to one year's firemen's ball. The truck cost $150.00 and it held 1,000 gallons of water. It had a brass pump on it.

Bob stood at the Town Meeting in 1946 to suggest that the Town obtain War Surplus equipment. Until this time, the Town did not have a Fire Department, nor did any fire fighting equipment except shovels and a few back pumps.

Hudson and Manchester had provided firefighting overage to Litchfield, and charged the Town $100.00 each time they came.

In the 40's, Bob and Assistant Chief Donald MacDougall were the only local friefighters who went to Concord for fire training. The Town paid the cost of the training. In the late 40's , the Town received three 500 gallons per minute War Surplus pumps to be used for pumping water out of local brooks. Prior to this time, the only water source at the time was Colby Brook at the north end of Town, where the 1936 Chevy tanker truck was driven back and forth to get its load off 700? 900? Gallons. The Colby brothers, who operated Colby Farms, would bring a 500 gallon per minute pump to the brook so the truck could be filled. (Some 40 years later, this same pump was mounted on the back of a Fire Department trailer truck.) They also had a special phone line put into the barn so that Bob would be able to get fire calls. Firemen were paid to fight forest fires, but not house fires.

Bob's scariest experience was a structure fire in a two-story house on Page Road when there was no water available to fight the fire. After this starting in the early 50's, the Town paid to dig out, and then maintain, water holes at Colby's, John Reid's, Dick Leach's, Duck Bilodeau's, McQuesten's, Brickyard Brook, Ira Ford's, Center Brook(between Talent & Page-this ran into Chase Brook), Charlie Campbell's and behind the Idle hour where there was a spring. As a point of interest, people used to stop at the spring to get water.

Bob bought three two-way radios @ approximately $150 each; the department- not the Town- paid him for one of them, which was installed in the fire truck. He installed one of the others in his house and one in his car.

When he was chief, there were a lot of what would now be called musters, but they called them training sessions, with Londonderry, Pelham, Hudson, and Litchfield. Hudson chief Frank Nutting was often the one to organize these.

He said it also was quite scary negotiating dome of the curves on 3A, notably heading south around the one by Brick Yard Brook; there was only 1 truck, and it was loaded with water, ladders, and all the firefighting equipment that might be needed, so it was very top heavy.

The fire truck was housed in the Colby's squash house until Bob's business-the Litchfield Garage was built. Bob worked on the truck for free, and charged the Town $20.00 a month to house it in his heated garage. Because the truck was taking up ½ of his working area, he went to the bank, rejected a loan to expand the Garage; the loan was rejected because the bank said he would have to charge the Town $50.00 a month just to break even. Rather the increase his charge to the Town, he did without the expansion.

A memorable fire occurred when the power station behind the library burned in-YEAR? This had been the transformer station that was owned by Public Service company, it supplied the power for the trolley cars traveling between Manchester and Nashua, and it had been a manned station. After the fire, Ray Jean bought it from the insurance company.

To report a fire, people would call the operator who would then ring Bob's house. His wife would get him at his Garage or at Colby's farm, and then she would start calling other firemen whose wives would help with the "telephone tree."

There were occasional jurisdictional problems at fire scenes because the Forest Warden and the Fire Chief were different people. At one time, Bob was State Fire Warden, Deputy Fire Warden, and special deputy- he had all three badges at once.

Financially, Bob remembers always having to fight with selectmen for every dollar in the budget.

He stopped being Fire Chief because he was also State Forest Fire Warden. Since he was on duty in a forest fire tower all summer, he was not available to fight fire in the Town.

Third Chief: Leon "Jimmy" Calawa, Jr. 1959-1966

When Jim started as chief, Farmer French's truck was the only one the department owned. During his tenure, the Department bought a pumper/hose truck from a Massachusetts town with money appropriated over several years. It also received it's 1953 Ford forestry truck through the State and a new 1967 International truck from a Nashua company.

Under Jim's watch, the Department got its first raincoats, boots, helmets, respirator, and its first "new" hose and nozzles. The Town bought new pumps so that the Department could now draw water from brooks throughout the Town.

There were about 20 men on the department. Jim's main goal was to build up the department so they wouldn't have to call Hudson for so many fires. There were also many work sessions to finish building the fire station and install a heating unit. Jim's own building crews sometimes worked on the construction, and he paid them himself.

The Town's population was less than 1,000 when his term began, and over 2,000 when it ended.

Memorable fires were the barn at the Parker Farm, John Reid's house, and the barn at the Idle Hour Farm.

The department participated in parades in Nashua and Hudson, though it didn't have any of its own. The department had a muster team that competed with surrounding towns.

The budget was always under $1,000.00. Morale was high within the department.

The Red Cross began offering first aid classes to the department, and other townspeople could and did also take them.

Fire calls were still made to the chief's home, and all the wives called other firemen. Since some of the telephone lines had up to 8 parties, getting through to members could sometimes be a challenge. Eventually (year?), Ralph Kelly of Hudson was hired to answer the fire calls. He and his answering service would make individual calls, which could take up to an hour to complete.

There were about 20 calls a year: mainly brush and chimney fires, with an occasional forest fire. The department did not respond to medical calls.

Fourth Chief: Arthur Burgess 1966-1971

Art remembers a lot of forest fires while he was chief. These would be fought with "Indian tanks" which the firefighters wore on their backs. When a middle-of-the-night fire would be completely extinguished, it would get pitch dark and there were a few arguments about which direction led out of the woods!

A house fire he remembers particularly well was the Charlie Campbell house. He also remembers many times when water had to be pumped from Duck Bilodeau's pond to put out fires at the dump.

Money was always a problem for the department, he said, nothing that "We had to fight for everything we got." Once, a local resident, (Howard Parker-was he on the Budget committee at the time?) even questioned how many nuts were on each wheel of a fire truck the department wanted to buy! Art remembers ordering the 1967 International fire truck with an extra axle, because Howard Parker insisted axles would break "right and left". The extra axle is probably still behind the fire truck the Town ever had, and it cost $17,000.00 (approx.) complete with hoses, ladders, etc.

Art started Litchfield's first muster team. (Note: Jim Calawa said the department had muster teams when he was chief?)

Art put a lot of his own money into things like buying the insulation for the fire station. Members would hold dances and conduct raffles to raise money, because they had a hard time getting what they needed from the Town. Theresa Dufault, who owned the Litchfield drive-in, was always generous with the department. One year there wasn't even any money to hire a disc jockey for the New Year's Eve dance, so Art put his own music on reels of tape and they used them for the dances, held upstairs in the fire station.

Department members also frequently took up collections among themselves to buy equipment or things for the station. He remembers asking the Town for $10,000.00 to finish the fire station, installing a furnace, drill a well(9" casing, 285'deep), finish the upstairs meeting room, and stucco the outside. Water from this well was piped to the Church and the Town Hall as a condition for getting the money. The original fire station was finished during his tenure 2 stalls, housing 2 trucks. The foundation of the building is about 6" off, he noted, because the transit of the local volunteer was off.

(Note: When did the department give up Farmer French's truck?)

He remembers 2-day training sessions in Fitzwilliam, Mass. In the late 60's; outside training pretty much stopped when Tom became chief, Art said, because at that time in-house training was started. While Art was chief, there were 2 or 3 first-aid courses, which signaled the beginning of the department's response to medical calls.

Art was given a tour of the Manchester, England fire training grounds. British was military type, with apprentices training for a couple of years and living in barracks on the training grounds. Art's wife, Irene, was a "fire woman" for three years in England during World War II, and was trained to climb ladders with hoses on her back, operate telephones, etc. Though she didn't serve here, she was probably Litchfield's first female firefighter!

There were 21 or 22 people on the Litchfield Fire Department during Art's tenure. Art also remembers a local woman, Mrs. Tatro, who strap on an Indian tank and help to fight brush fires.

His most frustrating moment as fire chief occurred when he was all alone at a brush fire off Talent Road, trying to drag a fire hose all by himself through the woods. District Forest Fire Warden Winn Hannaford arrived, he says, just as he'd been tempted to drive the fire truck into the woods and let it burn!

He remembers driving to the Navy Yard in Rhode Island to pick up the Autocar with Jim and Craig Young. It came with a ________trailer, which they had to tow at night all the way from Rhode Island; the truck quit several times along the road, and they'd have to get out and hammer on _______to get it going again. Coming down Allds Street in Nashua, it kept backfiring, and they saw lights coming on in houses all along the street.

Fifth Chief: Lawrence Olson, Sr., 1971-1974

The population of Litchfield at this time was between 2,500-3,000. There were 10 to 15 members on the fire department.

The department took part every year in other departments' musters and parades.

Litchfield did have mutual aid, but didn't have a lot of equipment to offer other towns. Litchfield would sometimes stand by at the stations of other towns when they were busy at a call.

In case of a fire, the Londonderry fire dispatcher would call the chief and Fran would call three other firemen, whose wives would call three more.

There were 20 to 30 calls per year, mostly chimney and brush fires.

At a Town Meeting one year, Larry had arranged for a Plectron unit to be "toned out" by the Londonderry dispatcher so the townspeople could see how it worked. It caused quite a commotion, but it did its job. The Town appropriated money for____???? Units, and that was the start of the paging system for alerting firefighters. The Plectrons were not portable units.
Sixth Chief: Ronald Mason 1974-1976

While Ron was chief, the department took the old forestry truck that had been received free from the government and with $1,800.00 made it into a good forestry truck- this had been his main goal as chief.

Ron remembers that members would sometimes have trouble starting the old trucks and they'd have to jump-start them and sometimes tie chains on the and pull them.

Ron was once surprised to discover that his Assistant Chief, Leo Sevigny, had repaired whatever made the 2,000 gallon International pumper slow and logy. Ron's discovery occurred when he hopped aboard to respond to a fire and nearly had a heart attack from the sudden acceleration.

There were 20 to 25 men on the department. Skip Jerry conducted training with Scot air packs and pumpers; Ron handled training for arson; there was a training session (for what?) in Fitzwilliam.

Ron especially remembers a fire in an apartment house on Route 102 when a gas explosion killed a man who was confined to a wheelchair.

The Town's population was 3,300 to 3,500 and the budget about $7,800 to $8,000.

The department attended musters in other towns and also sponsored some to which other departments were invited.

One Mutual Aid experience was the fire at Alvirne High School, when Litchfield fire department was able to shoot water all the way from the road with its turret gun(mounted on which truck?)

The department got good use of its Scot Air pack training in Londonderry one time, when they were called during the training to a fire at Olson's Mobile Home Park; it ended up being real-life training.

The department used to burn the grass in people's fields in the Fall and fill swimming pools in the Spring.

Ron remembers a couple of funny events: a mattress fire at the north end of Town when firefighters threw burning debris out a bedroom window; firefighter Charlie McQuesten climbed up a ladder to the window and hollered in, "Is there anymore fire in there?" Another time a young couple emerged from a smoky fire so covered in soot that all anyone could identify were their eyeballs.
Seventh Chief: Thomas W. Levesque, Sr. 1977-1984

When Tom was chief, the Town bought Engine #2 for $70,000.00 from Blanchard Associates in Maine, this was traded in when the Town bought its new truck in 1995.

There were about 25 to 30 men on the department.

Tom's majors goals were lowering the insurance rates for the townspeople, and getting pagers for alerting the department member of fire calls.

Memorable fires during his term were the Broadview Farm fire, which was found to be arson; the Winslow house fire, which left the 7-member family temporarily homeless; and the Kelsey house fire, during which the barn was destroyed and part of the house damaged.

Tom was chief during the Town's 250th Anniversary celebration; the department sponsored a large muster, and participated in a local parade, as well as the more usual ones in surrounding communities.

He thinks there were 3,000 to 4,000 people in Town and the department budget was between $60,000 to $70,000.

Mutual Aid was very active among Derry, Hudson, Manchester, Londonderry and Litchfield.

Tom points out that, though he didn't want female firefighters, he did appoint the first female EMT-Sue Sullivan. During Tom's tenure, department members began responding to accidents to provide medical coverage, at no charge to the Town.

A new responsibility, with its share of problems, was the installation of alarms at Tabernacle Church, Town Hall, Griffin School and the Fire Station. Initially, there were a lot of false alarms; one alarm, assumed to be another false one at the school, turned out to be a fire in the science lab. There were no injuries, and damage was minor.

Eighth Chief: Richard R. "Skip" Jerry 1984-1985

Skip's term occurred at a turning point in Department operations.

He listed many fond memories dating back to when he joined the department as an eighteen year-old and continuing through terms as Assistant Chief under two previous department heads, but remember only headaches from his year as chief.

On average, 10 or 20 people a week stopped at his business(the Litchfield Garage) to get burning permits, blocking customers' access to his gas pumps. Frequently, he'd be responding to one of the year's more than 200 calls when his business customers arrived for appointments or to pick up their cars, and they'd find the garage locked. There were hassles over permits for un-vented kerosene heaters. Every weekend seemed to bring one or two illegal burns and chimney fires were so frequent as to be routine. He occasionally obliged a resident by taking a cat out of a tree or pumping out a flooded cellar, but the Department had essentially outgrown its ability to provide these services and he usually didn't log them in.

In responding to daytime calls, Skip frequently had to drive south to the fire station, get a fire truck, then drive it to a north-end brush fire where he'd be faced with trying to operate the truck-mounted pump and handle the fire hose by himself. He responded to so many medical calls that he started carrying a first aid kit in the service truck, in order to cut down on response time. Generally, he didn't put in for payment unless the calls took a couple of hours or more.

Aware that the Town could not continue operating during the daytime on a volunteer basis, he began researching the hiring of two full-time fire fighters.

One of his top priorities was completing the numbering of Litchfield's houses, which had been started while Tom was chief. This project took on more urgency following a fire called in by a lady named "Smith, on Route 3A." Department members drove several times up and down Route 3A until smoke was finally visible at the Gilcreast home.

Skip borrowed a measuring wheel from Building Inspector Roland Bergeron; he and other department members physically walked the entire street system, assigning a new house number every hundred and fifty feet. Then they spent two evenings a week at the fire station, assigning numbers to homeowners.

There were 35 firefighters, many with medical training. Skip was the first chief to list their names in the Town's annual reports, giving them a bit of recognition. He appointed the first female firefighters-Candia Hynds, Lori Flood, and Sue Sullivan.

One memorable call involved a woman trapped in her north-end apartment by toxic fumes in the hallway. Since no one else responded to the scene and he had no ladder to help her out of the building, he up-ended a nearby bicycle rack for her to climb down.

A more tragic fire occurred at the Theresa Dufault home adjacent to the Litchfield drive-in Theater on Talent Road. The house was fully involved by the time the late-night call was received, and Mrs. Dufault died in the fire.

Skip enjoyed the work he did building, renovating, and repairing the Department's trucks; the ---------was built by the department, with him doing the designing, welding and plumbing; Assistant Chief (?) Brian Barton doing the mechanical work; and Warren Adams and Jim Beetz doing the finish work and painting. (This truck?)___________was used at a Mutual Aid fire in Manchester, because Manchester had no available tanker truck.

Skip and Jimmy Beetz obtained the rescue boat in 1986.

Engine #2- a '75 Ford, was bought just before Ford went on strike. (Ford was building the cab and chassis.) By the time the strike was over, the cost of the truck had gone up to $60,000 and the Department had to fight to get it for its original price-but they had a contract. (Ordered under Chief Olson, received under Chief Mason?)

Nineth Chief: Brent Lemire 1985-Present

Brent lives in Litchfield with his wife Lisa, and their son Matthew. Lisa has taught English at West High School in Manchester for 22 years, and Matthew attends Griffin Memorial School.

Brent joined the fire department in 1977 and was promoted to Captain in 1979. He was elected as Fire Chief in 1985. He is also a member of the New Hampshire Association of Fire Chiefs and is a past president.

As chief he is paid $650 per year. He has worked full time for the Manchester Fire Department as an Administrator for 24 years.

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