Recycled Turn-out Gear!

A year or so ago, we gave some old retired turn-out gear to a woman who said she was making it into purses and lap-top bags. I didn't pay much attention; we normally have to throw our obsolete stuff into the compactor at the Transfer Station. So today, I'm reading the Ledger-Transcript, mostly to see who wound up in the Police Log, and there is an article about Evon Cassier from Hancock, who just won $10,000 in a nationwide contest for "Project Runway", whatever that is. My curiosity was piqued, so I stopped by her house on Forest Road to see what she was up to. It turns out that Evon has been in town for 3+ years, and had  made a bag from a friend's old firefighing coat. She then took the concept and then ran with it. I have always been a big supporter of home-based occupations in Hancock, but it is particularly cool if someone can recycle our worn-out gear. Evon just made a substantial donation to the Hancock Fire Dept Association. Look her up at www.evoncassier.com

Bob Kierstead, 1938-2011

Robert(Bob)Kierstead, HFD Chief from
1973-1995

Past and Present Fire Officers gathered in front of
14 Engine 1, the last piece of apparatus purchased by Chief Kierstead.



Retired Fire Chief Robert (Bob) Kierstead died in November. As he wished, Bob was laid to rest without a lot of fanfare, but I feel I have to make note of this man's passing. Bob was a Hancock native, and did a great deal for the Town in his many years here. Like his father, he was a Selectman, and he was our Town Clerk for a good length of time. He ran the Hancock Toy Shop in that funky building at the base of Norway Hill Road for years, and was an accomplished woodworker. He and his wife, Marilyn, raised their two daughters in their home on Wilder Road. However, his biggest mark of the town was holding the position of Fire Chief for almost 22 years. He took over the department at a relatively young age, and made huge strides to bring it forward.

Bob became Chief in the early 1970's, when we were still crammed into the old station behind the Market. Somehow, they shoe-horned three trucks into that building, and still had room for meetings, not to mention a pool table. Under Bob's leadership, our current Fire Station was designed, financed, and built, and was put into service in 1980. He and a few others did comprehensive studies of the fire protection needs of the town, and came up with a plan to keep two fire engines and two tanker trucks in the station, and put those four pieces of apparatus on a regular replacement schedule, both to keep our trucks up to date, and to even out the financing of the equipment. Hancock now has over 6000 gallons of "water on wheels", quite a bit more than our surrounding towns. Because of Bob Kierstead's foresight, we can make a significant first attack on a structure fire before Mutual Aid units arrive from other departments.

Bob instituted a training schedule to keep all firefighters up to date on the latest techniques and equipment. Hancock bought it's first Rescue Truck. Before then, if you needed a ride to the hospital, you were picked up by a combination ambulance/ hearse. Dead or alive, you were getting hauled off in that rig! Hancock trained and certified it's first EMTs. Members were given pagers to alert them to a call, rather than relying on hearing the fire horn or getting a phone call. SCBAs (air packs) were purchased so firefighters could enter a burning building safely, rather than using the old "surround and drown" technique of firefighting.

Bob could still be Old School, however. I can recall several instances when we were called to a house fire; Bob would arrive first, then assign members from the first engine to go inside to find the fire. He made sure they had full gear- air packs, helmets and hoods, gloves, etc. We were always instructed to crawl into a house filled with smoke. Bob would then walk inside behind that crew, with no more protection than a bunker coat. He would stoop over to get below the smoke, but wasn't about to get down on his hands and knees, as he didn't want to mess up his khakis. He would do a quick appraisal of the situation, then back his way outside. He might hack and spit a little from the smoke, but then he would light up one of his little White Owls, and proceed to give assignments to the arriving crews.
The photo above is one of the few action shots we have of Bob. He was not a man to pose for pictures. This was taken in 1993 at the scene of a fire in Bud Wilder's garage on Forest Road. While it is a bit out of focus, I feel it captures Bob in his element.

I think every new recruit to any fire department remembers his or her first Chief. Bob was my first Chief, and while Lindy Joseph and Mike Cass did an excellent job in that position after him, Bob is how I still picture a Fire Chief to act. In his 22 years, I know he influenced a large number of Hancock firefighters, both past and present. Our Department and the Town owe Bob a great debt of gratitude.

Automobile Extrication Training

Every third Tuesday night, we have a Rescue Training session. In October, our Captains worked with David Hall to set up a realistic Motor Vehicle Accident (MVA) scenario out behind the dump. Two old cars, donated by Hayes Towing of Stoddard, were "crashed" and were filled with multiple "victims." Our crews had to triage the patients, stabilize them, and remove them for transport as quickly and as safely as possible. Equipment was assembled, task assignments were made, and adequate lighting was set up.
Poor old Rescue Randy (see earlier post) was the one victim that did not survive. The other victims were extricated with varying degrees of difficulty. Some of the car doors would not open, so our Power Hawk tool (Jaws of Life) was used to remove the entire door to provide access.
All patients had cervical collars to stabilize their necks, and were placed on backboards for transport as they were extricated. Thanks to David Hall for his help, as well as all the "victims."
The following weekend, Mark Thompson and Tom Ball ran a training session with the Power Hawk to completely dismantle what was left of the vehicles. Doors came off, roofs were removed; by the time they were done, there was not a whole lot left of those cars!
All photos courtesy of David Skerry.

Nasty weather, Summer Edition

Usually we can expect some weather related problems from blizzards or deep cold spells, or Spring flooding. This Summer is starting off with a bang- literally. A big thunder-storm rolled through town on June 1st, and a large barn/ riding ring on Middle Road was struck by lightning at about 4 o'clock. The bolt of lightning struck one peak of the building and traveled 200 feet to the other end, where it started a fire. Several other corners of the barn had damage, either melting and scorching of the trim and siding, or structural damage like it had been hit by a vehicle. Because of the size of the building (20,000 + sq. ft.) a second alarm was called in. Firefighters from Mutual Aid towns helped us check every part of the structure to make sure nothing else was on fire.
We were quite busy the following week as well. Several more storms blew through, taking down trees and power lines all over town. Let's hope it calms down for the rest of the Summer.

Training with "Rescue Randy"

Last year, the BoundTree Corporation donated about $6000 worth of training equipment to our department on the occasion of the retirement of Lindy Joseph, a former Hancock firefighter, Captain, and Chief. Included in that generous gift was a 165 pound training dummy called "Rescue Randy." As part of a monthly rescue drill, Randy was given the role of an unfortunate victim of a logging accident on Reaveley Road. Our EMTs and firefighters had to find Randy, then put together a plan to safely extricate him out from under a 40 foot Hemlock tree. Obviously, we could not use a real person for such a training exercise! As you can see from these photos, Randy's extrication was successful, and he is now recovering back at the station. Thanks again to Lindy and the folks at BoundTree Corp.

Firefighter of the Year 2010

At our Annual Dinner this Spring, Mark Thompson was named Hancock Firefighter of the Year for 2010. He has been a member of the department for about 11 years, and a Captain for about six years. He now hold the rank of 14-o-1. Along with the two other Captains, Mark takes charge of most of our in-house training sessions, and he spends a good deal of time in preparation to make the most of those sessions. Mark has done a lot of work in and around the fire station, using his woodworking and welding skills on projects in the building and on our trucks. Congratulations, Mark!

Saturday Training Session

On April 16th, the State Fire Academy in Concord brought their Burn Trailer to Moose Brook Park for fire department members to train in. The trailer is basically a large fire-proof box that can be used to simulate a "room and contents" type building fire. Over the course of the morning, crews circulated in and out of the trailer to observe fire behavior, venting techniques as well as standard safety precautions. The trailer provides a controlled environ-ment to experience realistic fire and heat for newer firefighters. Thanks to the HFD Auxiliary for providing lunch afterwards!

HPD Chief Andy Wood

See any similarity?

14 Brush 1

Our new Brush Truck is complete, so we thought we would post a photo of it. This is a 2006 Ford F-250 with four wheel drive. We mounted a custom steel flatbed body on it, and built side boxes to store all of our tools and equipment. We run it as a utility vehicle as well as a brush fire truck.
Thanks to the DPW guys for their help, as well as all the Fire Dept. members that worked on this project.

Old Home Day Chicken Barbecue, 2010

Saturday, August 21st was a perfect day to cook about 600 chickens on the Town Common. Once a few parked cars got moved out of the way, our 40 foot grill was assembled and a small mountain of charcoal was lit. All the birds were racked up and placed on the grill under the supervision of head chef John Pirkey. Meanwhile, the smaller tents were set up, chairs and tables placed for all the hungry folks, and drinks were chilled in our old stainless cooler. A bit before 4 PM, additional help showed up to man the serving line, and stayed in place until the last ticket was sold. After a quick break to eat themselves, everyone went into cleanup mode, and by 7:30 there wasn't much left to do. On Sunday morning, the big tent was taken down and moved to Dublin, and the grill packed up for another year.
Thanks to all the people who bought tickets, and thanks to everyone who helped out to make this a successful fund raiser for us!

Firefighter Of The Year, 2009

At our Annual Dinner held at Sargent Center in March, Jon GrosJean was honored as the Hancock Firefighter of the Year. Jon has been a department member since he moved here from Connecticut, where he also served on a volunteer fire department. He has proven to be very handy at fixing all the stuff that we manage to break.We are very fortunate that we don't have to send out all of our malfunctioning pagers, radios and other electronic equipment, we just hand 'em to Jon.
Jon has also taken over the duties of Department Secretary. He served several years as a Captain and a Deputy Fire Warden as well. He is currently Hancock's Emergency Operations Director.
Congratulations, and Thank You, Jon!

Hancock First Alarms

During the last week of February 2010, we were toned out for two first alarm fires in town, both at about 6 AM. On Monday, we had a report of a fire behind a chimney in a house on North Road. Fire was showing on both the interior and exterior of the ell upon our arrival, and the fire flashed over through out the entire room before hose lines were brought to the door. An aggressive attack kept the worst of the fire damage to the ell, although the rest of the house suffered some smoke and water damage. Three Hancock firefighters were injured in the first 15 minutes of the incident, but only one required hospitalization and surgery for a badly broken wrist. These photos show the damage inside after the room's contents were removed, and the exterior damage in the area of the chimney. A corroded woodstove thimble was determined to be the cause of the fire. We are thankful to the fire departments of Antrim, Bennington, Greenfield, Peterborough and Dublin for their help at this incident.

On Friday of that week, we had another first alarm to a house on Depot Road. An overheated woodstove with a Metalbestos chimney had ignited the ceiling joists above the stove. The first crew squeezed through a tight attic hatch with their air-packs, and carefully dug through mounds of loose insulation to find the burning timbers and extinguish the fire without flowing too much water. Although we had to tear down a section of the ceiling, damage was limited to the area around the stove. Once again, Mutual Aid towns responded to Hancock, but this time we did not require their help. We figured that our trucks brought 6,000 gallons of water to the scene, but we used about three or four gallons. A Carbon Monoxide detector gave the occupants their first warning that something was wrong; they are very fortunate to have discovered the fire when they did, as it was only minutes away from spreading throughout the entire attic.

Mutual Aid to Antrim &Greenfield fires

February 2010 has been a bad month for fires in the area. On February 8th, a three story building on Main St. in Antrim caught fire. Hancock units were called in to help provide water to supplement the Antrim hydrant system. We set up an engine and a tanker to draft water from the Handle Shop mill pond at the base of High Street, and the two trucks pumped well over 100,000 gallons up the hill to the fire. A crew of our younger guys also helped out running attack lines on the fire.

On February 16th, a 200+ yr old house and barn in Greenfield also caught fire, reportedly caused by heatlamps in the barn. This was a very remote location, and Greenfield had a difficult time establishing an adequate water supply. Our engine was set up to pump water from a fill site on Slip Road to fill tankers. Our larger tanker helped shuttle water to Porta-tanks, where it was pumped several thousand feet down the narrow road to the fire.

New Brush Truck!

After years of discussion, we have finally purchased a new pickup to replace our old, underpowered, and too small Brush Truck. We bought a 2006 Ford F-250 from a dealer in Hooksett in January, and are in the process of building it into the truck we need. The Ford came with a snowplow that we didn't need, so it was removed and sold. We will be removing the bed and replacing it with a larger flatbed that we found on eBay. Walt of Walt's Signs in Jaffrey came in and did his usual excellent job of lettering up the truck for us. Jon Grosjean has done all of the electrical work needed- re-installed a radio, siren, and wired up a lightbar for the roof. We should have the new 14-Brush-1 unit fully in service by the time Spring rolls around.
Like our Rescue Truck, this vehicle was purchased without any tax money; the Hancock Fire Dept Association used it own money to buy it. We figure it represents about 10,000 chickens from our annual chicken barbeque!

N95 Mask Fitment Testing

Dave Hall of The Academy of First Response recently conducted mask-fitting tests for members of the Fire Department. N95 masks are used to prevent transmission of H1N1 flu, TB, and other air-borne illnesses. To be sure the mask fits correctly, we all had to wear one under a silly looking yellow hood while Dave sprayed in a noxious but harmless vapor. Shown here are Mark Thompson and John Pirkey. Jogging in place (to elevate your heart rate) was one of the components of the test. Dave LeFebvre and Tom Bates demonstrated this in a YouTube video:

http://www.youtube.com/user/Nevco49#p/a/u/0/grC9v3vsLNY

In Memory of Becky Lohmiller, 1948- 2009

Becky Lohmiller died on September 13th, 2009, after a long and courageous battle with a rare form of breast cancer. Becky was a member of our department since 1978, answering calls for 31 years. She was our first female firefighter, one of our first EMT's, and served as our Secretary and Treasurer for most of those years. Becky was the department "Mom", and made sure we all had warm gear for calls on cold winter nights, and plenty of water to drink on scorching hot days. Hancock residents and visitors may have seen Becky and George in the Old Home Day Parade this year in their Ural motorcycle and sidecar. Becky's dedication and sense of humor will be missed by all of us. We were proud to have representation from all the area fire departments at her Memorial Service on September 19th. Deb Porter- Hayes made a very nice slide show of the firefighter processional; you may view it on YouTube if you so desire:

http://www.youtube.com/user/Nevco49#p/a/u/0/-DpfZ8d0fC8

Muster Season

It is an old tradition for local Fire Departments to compete in musters during the summer months. It is a good way to get to know the members of other departments. Our guys went to musters in Bennington and Wilton this year. In this photo, Rob Nash and Chris Marchuk are part of the "wet hose" team, signaling that they have made up their connection to the man at the hydrant.

Old Home Days, August 15th, 2009

Once again, The Fire Department rolled out all its trucks to anchor the Old Home Days parade down Main Street. If you were watching, it was the c.1808 handtub, the '45 Mack, the Rescue Truck, both engines and both tankers, and then the Brush Truck and boat.

As soon as the apparatus was returned to the station, we turned our attention to the task of cooking 548 chickens on the Common.

The 30 foot long grill was set up and lit, all the chicken was laid out on the racks, and the serving tables and small tents were set up. Drinks, watermelons, and side dishes were prepared. The eating commenced right at 4 PM, with serving help from quite a few extra volunteers, young and old.

By 6 o'clock, everyone had been served and it was our time to sit down and polish off whatever was left. Thanks to everyone who helped out to make this a successful day!

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Firefighter of the Year, 2009

Bill Eva was honored as HFD's Firefighter of the Year at the Annual Dinner on March 20th, 2009. Bill makes as many calls as any member of the department, and is always willing and able to help out with any project or work detail. Bill was recently elected to the position of Captain, and helps run our training sessions. Congratulations, Bill!

(The other award Bill is holding is for smashing one of the lights off our Rescue Truck. We never said he was perfect!)

Thanks, George and Becky!

At the Annual Dinner held at Sargent Center on March 20th, George and Becky Lohmiller were recognized for their many years of service to the Department. George has been a member for 35 years, and Becky has been a member for 30 years! We are all grateful for their continued dedication to the Town of Hancock.