Phoenix Rising. . .

Fresh in from a Florida vacation (at his own expense,) Deputy Chief Roger Merry sends photos of Engine 1 on the E-One production line. Delivery is still expected in mid-May. More photos on the Engine 1 page.

Robert "Bobby Bear" Whitehead

The Rowley Fire Department regrets to announce the passing of life-member Robert A. "Bobby Bear" Whitehead.

Robert died Thursday, March 26, 2009 in the Lahey Clinic Medical Center in Burlington following a brief illness.

Born in Lynn on December 21, 1946, he was the son of Maria C. (Gagnon) Whitehead of Beverly and the late Ernest B. Whitehead. He had resided in Beverly for most of his life and was a graduate of Beverly High School. He was also a U.S. Navy veteran of the Vietnam War.

Bob was employed as a forest firefighter at the Bradley Palmer State Park in Topsfield for many years. He also was a volunteer firefighter for the towns of Rowley and Rockport for several years. He was an active member of the Cardinal Alumni Association as well as the Legend's Drum Corps and the St. Kevin's Emerald Knights Drum and Bugle Corps. He was also a member of the Franco-American Club in Beverly.

In addition to his mother, he is survived by two daughters, Christina L. and her husband, Joseph Fasano of Stoughton and Renee J. Whitehead and her companion, Samuel Correa of Beverly, for grandchildren, Haley Carter and Nathaniel Correa both of Beverly and Benjamin and Jacob Fasano both of Stoughton, a brother, Mark Whitehead of Salem, Bob's longtime friend Sheila Blais of Beverly, his former spouse and her husband, Rita G. and Frank Ball of Beverly and many cousins.

His funeral mass will be celebrated on Monday, March 30th in the St. Mary Star of the Sea Church, Cabot St., Beverly at 11 AM. Visiting hours will be held on Sunday in the Gronding Funeral Home, 376 Cabot Street, Beverly, from 1-4 PM. Relatives and friends are cordially invited to attend. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in his memory to the Cardinal Alumni Scholarship Fund, PO Box 5054, Beverly Farms, MA 01915. Interment will be held in the North Beverly Cemetery.

--
A moment of silence and brief prayer were held for Bob at tonight's department meeting. Rest in peace, Bobby Bear. We'll miss you and your sense of humor.

March Training

On Thursday March 12, 2009 at 1900 hrs there will be Rapid Intervention Team (RIT) training. All members of the department are strongly encouraged to attend this important training. If there any questions please contact C1 or FF John McCarron.

Rowley Fire Department Graduates 3 from MFA class 026

Congatulations to Dave, Hannah and Ron for successfully finishing the Mass Fire Academy Call/Volounter Fire Fighter Training program. They have spent the last 7 months in very intense training. May they all have successful careers in the department.

C1

EMS con ed credits

The Essex County Fire Chiefs Association through its training and ems division have obtained a grant for on line training through target Safety.com. This grant is valid until July 31, 2009 and all member communities can access this training for free.

Currently there are 5 OEMS approved courses for con ed credits. Each class is for 1 cred hour. There is an easy registration and the classes take approximately 1 hour to complete. Once you past the test at the end you will recieve a certificate and oems approval #.

If you are interested you may follow this link www.targetsafety.com/essexcountyfirechiefs register yourself and start the courses.

If you have any questions please contact the chief.

Carbon Monoxide Safety

It's winter, and times are tough. Please be careful with your heating sources.

Rowley selectmen, firefighters in standoff over contract

The Daily News has reported on the impasse in contract negotiations between the Board of Selectmen and the Rowley Volunteer Fire Protection Association:

Rowley selectmen, firefighters in standoff over contract

As this is an official RFD website, the webmaster will keep his opinions to himself and offer three factual corrections:

First, the much-vaunted $40,000 surplus never existed. What did exist was a capital fund. $40,000 is merely the amount arbitrarily cut from the RVFPA budget request last spring. (It had been a level-funded budget request.) After the installation of a much-needed new roof on the firehouse, the RVFPA ended the year with approximately $3000 in town funds. In government this is a 'surplus' which must be reclaimed and immediately spent elsewhere; to the rest of us it is known as 'saving for a rainy day.' Without the funds in question, we would currently have a leaky roof over our multi-million dollar investment.

Secondly, the chief does have control over maintenance and over the firefighters. No item of maintenance is ever ignored when requested by the chief. Maintenance on the town-owned equipment is also performed under the Association's budget. All of the firefighters serve under a unified command system headed by the chief. He sets policy and gives the orders, as it should be. Chief Broderick receives his authority from the Office of the State Fire Marshall and in turn delegates to the firefighters to get the job done.

Thirdly, the town only has two full-time firefighters and a chief, not three. I'm not sure where the News got that 'fact' from.

Comments are encouraged below, please read them for my personal opinion.