by Alex Brooks
The Petersburgh Fire Department held its 2012 Installation Dinner on Saturday, April 28. A fine dinner was provided by caterer Melanie Teliska, and music was provided by D.J. John McEnerny. Fire Department Chaplain Walt Knightes provided a brief Invocation before the meal and a Benediction after.
[private]
Continuity was one of the themes of the evening, as nearly all of the officers are the same as last year. Bill Seel will continue as Fire Chief and Nathan Michaels as Assistant Chief. Earl Brock, James Morgan and Mike Lindsey continue as Captains. Randy Harrison and Richard Snyder continue as Safety Officers. Charlie Carr is Captain of Fire Police, and Siegfried Krahforst is Lt. of Fire Police. Katie Fiske is Secretary, and Martin Conboy is again the Treasurer.
Earl Brock, Mike Jones, Don Paulson and Steve Waytkus will serve as Fire Commissioners. Christina Lamphere will serve again as Secretary/Treasurer of the Commissioners and Terry Neaton as Chairman.
Fire Auxiliary Officers this year are Maureen Seel, President, Karina Michaels, Vice President, Shannon Morgan, Secretary, and Barb Snyder, Treasurer.
Former Chief and Chairman of the Fire Commissioners, Terry Neaton, again attended the most drills and the most calls. Second most drills was John Telford, and third was Dave Michaels. Second most calls was Charlie Carr, and third was Sebastian Krahforst.
The highlights of the evening were tributes to former Chief Rolland Hewitt, who gave twenty-eight forty-eight years of service to the Fire Department and served as Chief for 20 years, and to Janet Snyder, who has served on the Fire Auxiliary for an impressive 50 years.
The most notable event of the past year for the Fire Department was the extraordinary volume of calls related to Hurricane Irene. There were 20 calls for Hurricane Irene emergencies, which was more than a quarter of all the calls for the year. There was an average of nine members responding to calls. The most members responding to a call was 22.
Recognized for their years of service to the Fire Department were Ben Krahforst with 35 years, Bill Seel with 30 years, Mike Lindsey with 25 years, Nathan Michaels with 20 years and Steve Harrison with 5 years.
[/private]