FW: Letter to Hancock County Firefighters Association

[Lisa Winger]

-----Original Message-----
From: Charlie Wiegle [mailto:wie...@springhillweb.com]
Sent: Saturday, August 20, 2011 12:28 PM
To: Lisa Winger
Subject: Letter to Hancock County Firefighters Association

To: Members of Hancock County Firefighters Association

Re: August 16 Monthly Meeting hosted by Swan's Island Fire Department


On behalf of the Swan's Island Fire Department, I would like to thank all of the members who attended the recent meeting on Swan's Island. I realize the extra effort and time required to attend a meeting held by my department. It was nice to see so many members make the effort to attend the
meeting. For our department, being a member of the association has been very beneficial. Being affiliated with this organization and the ongoing relationship has helped us in many ways to improve our department.

The program presented by LifeFlight paramedic Kalem Malcolm was extremely informative to our department members. We rely heavily on the services offered by LifeFlight given the remote nature of our community. We had four LifeFlight evacuations in the last 6 weeks, so you can see how important
obtaining more information about how the service functions is critical to Swan's Island. The negative comments made at the end of the presentation do not reflect the feelings of the fire department, EMS department, or the community.

The unfortunate incident that occurred at the conclusion of Mr. Malcolm's presentation was extremely embarrassing. I would like to take the opportunity to apologize to the members present at the meeting and to Mr. Malcolm on behalf of my department and my community. I think Mr. Malcolm acted
in a most professional manner and I regret that I did not act sooner to diffuse the situation.

I look forward to a continued good relationship with the association and hope to see you all again on Swan's Island when next we host the monthly meeting.

If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please feel free to contact me via email - wie...@springhillweb.com - or phone: 460-2186.


Charlie Wiegle
Swan's Island Fire 16
Swan's Island Emergency Management Director