chase a new computer for the 41 Repeater, we would have been unable to expand our current website.  With this upgrade, we've been allowed to use faster hardware and newer computer software to aid us in expanding the website.
The dramatic differences between a newsletter and website are the newsletter is a process which must be done four times a year from start to finished product all at once.  The website would be much like a work in progress, always in production and constantly changing and evolving as we work towards the future.
We believe this is the right move to make at the right time.  It's going to be a challenge, but a challenge is what the Vernon Fire Department should be about.  As your Senior Editor, I have many opportunities to travel to different training seminars and schools around Connecticut and I travel yearly to the National Fire Academy.  It might be difficult to see from here, but this department is among the trendsetters and not the followers.  We comply with and exceed many NFPA standards.  We enjoy a wealth of modern fire fighting apparatus.  We have clearly written goals and policies.  Our personnel are motivated and among the best trained and we do it as volunteers.  Our Health and Safety, SCBA and ICS organization capabilities are among the best in the area.  There's plenty of room for improvement however, the fire department is also a work in progress. Constantly changing, constantly accessing what our goals are and what types of services our community desires.  This too is a challenge.
So, we hope you liked our product these past three years.  It has been fun but it has been tiring also.  We hope we have your support in our new adventure as we take a turn in the road and head in a different direction.  We are saddened that we cannot do more.  Our retired and relocated former members, along with members who still do not have Internet access weighed heavily on our minds.  We believe however, the future is on the world wide web community and this is the direction we're going.  We have some new ideas and we have a lot of good old ideas that are coming with us.  We look for your support in this new challenge.
And in closing, the staff of the 41 Repeater (especially the Managing Editor) would like to take this opportunity to thank Dave Galley.  He assisted in researching and purchasing the new computer for the 41 Repeater.  He also spent numerous hours ironing out glitches we were experiencing with the new computer. Those problems have been solved and the computer has been running like a fine tuned machine and is ready to work overtime!

Well, this is probably it folks.  The last regular quarterly edition of the 41 Repeater.  It's not that we haven't been a success -- quite the contrary.  By every indication and from feedback we receive, we were an overwhelming success and have a captive audience that eagerly awaits our releases.  Here's are problem.  We can't keep up.  Simply put, it's a lot of work even for four editions a year.  Maybe we set our goals to high, but the fact remains the collection, organization and construction of the newsletter is a huge amount of work which we cannot keep up with and pay adequate attention to our other priorities within and outside the Fire Department. 
The staff has discussed the topics of logistics of a paper-based newsletter, which are formidable.  There is also the issue of time.  As the newsletter is a quarterly production at best, the timeliness of some articles and pictures is critical.   Good and welfare articles and information can sometimes be three months behind.  But by far the biggest obstacle is the workload.  It was great fun, but it's time to move on to other things and to more modern technology.
As many of you know the 41 Repeater is posted on a somewhat simple website. By simple, I mean that it's actually just a posting of our last few editions which anyone can access with a computer and internet support.  The site is free to us and was used by us to allow people access to the 41 Repeater via Internet so they could enjoy the color copies.
Working with the website has given us an idea that this is the best course to pursue in the future.  Discontinuing a paper-based newsletter and going with a new and modern website will allow several opportunities for improvements.  First, a website is a low cost and low overhead production.  Although start up costs are moderate, they level off after the initial phases of operation.  Some examples of start up costs are software, training programs to learn web construction, computer internet access etc.  The staff has already begun training in website construction at MCTC.  We believe we can make this move with a few growing pains and the future for expansion and change is exciting.  (And if you've visited the 41 Repeater website recently, you'd notice it's undergone a complete makeover.) Secondly, a website would help cure our concerns with timeliness of information.  It would allow our staff to reasonably fit website management into our personal lives and it would allow us to post information in a timely fashion.  Also, without the support and approval of TVFD members in the Firefighters Association's pur

On March 21, 2001, at 17:50 hours, the Town of Vernon Fire Department responded to a reported building fire at 152 West Main Street.  Upon arrival, the fire department found a fire in the kitchen of the second floor apartment of this two-story building.
While police officers and firefighters were directing one occupant out of the building, it was learned that a second person was asleep in a back bedroom.
Captain David Galley, Firefighter Richard Harrison and Firefighter David Williams, Jr. entered the smoke filled apartment, past the kitchen where the fire originated, down the hallway to the bedroom to find one other occupant sleeping.  Unable to wake this person, the firefighters carried him through the apartment past the fire and out to safety.
This occupant required minor medical treatment for a cut foot at the scene.  No other injuries were reported. The fire had started on the kitchen stove and spread to the ceiling of the kitchen. The apartment received moderate damage. Occupants were not allowed to return to this apartment. The first floor apartment was undamaged.

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