Massachusetts Corps of
Fire Chaplains 
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Massachusetts Corps of
Fire Chaplains |
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Newsletter Mass Corp of Frie Chaplains 10th Anniversary January, 2010 (Pictures by Peter King)Highlights of the Annual Meeting and Harris Conference: *A basic introduction to the Incident Command System by Fred LaBlanc, our DFS liaison. *An interactive "off the table top" exercise around a tornado strike in a Massachusetts town. What? You don't think tornadoes strike Massachusetts? Tell that to the people in Sunderland where a large tobacco barn was picked up and dropped on the road on Saturday. Per square mile of territory, Massachusetts ranks 14th in the number of tornadoes. http://www.wwlp.com/dpp/news/local/wwlp_local_sunderlandstormconfirmedatornado_200905111911 The exercise produced some confusion, a little frustration and some important lessons in organizing a Chaplain response to a large scale event. *Meaningful worship and prayer time lead by a number of our Chaplains. Who knew we could sing so well? *Election of officers and district representatives... including: Jim Tilbe, the new Chief Chaplain Peter Preble, the new Deputy Chief Chaplain Central Bruce Arbour, the new Deputy Chief Chaplain West Larry Esposito, the new Treasurer Bob Conole, Ralph DiChiara, Susan Suchocki Brown were re-elected as district representatives Toby Quirk from Huntington was elected as the district 9 & 10 representative Bill McCoy from Brockton Fire was elected as district 2 representative Dick Martino was elected as district 14 representative *Presentation of two Mychal Judge Awards to two outstanding Chaplains: The Right Rev. Lawrence Provenzano of Longmeadow Fire who was honored for his service to Longmeadow and to the Mass. Corps of Fire Chaplains, particularly for his service as Chief Chaplain since 2004. Larry will be ordained as Bishop of Long Island on Saturday, September 19. More details on that when they become available... The Rev. Andrew Burr of Lunenburg Fire, who was particularly honored for his work during the Great Ice Storm of 2008, in which he established a shelter for those who had to leave freezing homes. *A visit from State Fire Marshall Steve Coan. We are grateful for Steve making the extra effort to be with us. He shared his concerns about the effects of budget cuts on the state and local level on the fire service in Massachusetts. *Wednesday morning brought a discussion about Standard Operating Guidelines (SOGs) and a host of issues for Chaplains. Chuck LaBlanc (Fred's brother) gave a great presentation on keeping ourselves and our firefighters healthy, especially on the fire scene. So, how's your hydration level? *Jim Tilbe showed a Powerpoint presentation that was used for the orientation meeting for new chief officers a few weeks ago. If you would like to view the presentation it is located at: http://home.comcast.net/~jtilbe/MCFC_introduction_presentation.ppt A schedule of upcoming meeting dates is attached... Please make note of the dates! We know that communication is key in every aspect of life, but especially in an emergency situation. When you are involved in an event that requires some extra help, please call your district representative, who will work to provide assistance. If the rep is not available, call one of the Chief officers. Every chaplain should have the following phone numbers stored in his or her cell phone: 1. Your MCFC District Representative's cell phone number If you don't now the fire district for your town, check this map: http://www.mass.gov/Eeops/images/dfs/emergency_response/special_ops/dist_map.gif And here is a list of district reps, with cell phone numbers: District # 1 The Rev. Mr. David Akin, Dennis Fire, 508-367-1099 District #2 The Rev. William McCoy, Brockton Fire, 508-802-0179 District # 3 The Rev. Marc Tremblay, Norton Fire, 508-857-8707 District # 4 The Rev. Robert Davidson, Norwood Fire, 508-326-9333 District # 5 The Rev. Mr. Norman La Pointe, Salem Fire, 978-420-2337 District #6 The Rev. Robert Conole, Methuen Fire, 978-361-7605 District #7 The Rev. Ralph DiChiara, Spencer Fire, 774-696-5391 District #8 The Rev. Susan Suchocki Brown, Leominster Fire, 978-833-0916 District #9&10 The Rev. Toby Quirk, Huntington Fire, Home: 413-667-0002 District #11 & 12 The Rev. Patrick McMahon, Granville Fire, 774-696-4528 District #13 The Rev. Richard DeVeer, Weymouth Fire, 617-913-1177 District #14 The Rev. Dr. Richard Martino, Northboro Fire, 774-696-4586 District #15 The Rev. Robert Hagopian, Rowley Fire, 978-360-4141 2. The cell phone numbers for the Chief Chaplain and the Deputy Chiefs Chief Chaplain, the Rev. James Tilbe, Raynham Fire, 774-696-4587 Deputy East, the Rev. Gary Blume, Bridgewater and Weymouth, 508-326-9173 Deputy Central, the V. Rev. Peter Preble, Dudley Fire, 508-326-9179 Deputy West, the Rev. Bruce Arbour, Amherst Fire, 413-219-6412 3. The emergency contact number for the CISM team in your area. There are times when a chaplain might suggest that an incident warrants a CISM intervention and sometimes the Chief will respond, "Call them." Do you know who to call? Fire District 01 800-352-7141 Cape & Islands CISM Fire District 02 508-747-1779 Plymouth County CISM Fire District 03 508-285-5380 Bristol / Norfolk CISM Fire District 04 508-285-5380 Bristol / Norfolk CISM Fire District 05 617-746-7676 Metro Boston Area CISM Fire District 06 800-614-CISM Greater Lowell / Chelmsford CISM Fire District 07 508-387-0937 Central Mass CISM Fire District 08 508-899-0055 Montachusetts CISM Fire District 09 413-586-6065 Western Mass CISM Fire District 10 413-586-6065 Western Mass CISM Fire District 11 413-586-6065 Western Mass CISM Fire District 12 413-586-6065 Western Mass CISM Fire District 13 617-343-2880 Boston Fire - Metro Fire CISM Fire District 14 978-369-1442 Concord / Carlisle CISM Fire District 15 617-749-7676 Metro Boston Area CISM |