8646-R1_NewGloucester_2022-2023_AnnualReport_Web

ANNUAL REPORT Fire & Rescue Department

2023 Fire Rescue Year in Review 2023 was a year of progress for the New Gloucester Fire Rescue Depart ment. Our members responded to a wide variety of calls, trained on many different subjects, and interacted with our community on multiple levels. We had many promotions, and removed many interim tags off of titles within our ranks. The result is a settled, stable leadership team ready to move the department forward to best serve the community. Incident Statistics What stood out in 2023 was the complexity of incidents we responded to. To quote Father Mychal Judge, a chaplain for the FDNY in 2001, “You show up. You put one foot in front of another. You get on the rig and you go out and you do the job—which is a mystery. And a surprise. You have no idea when you get on that rig. No matter how big the call. No matter how small.” Father Judge delivered these words on September 10th, 2001. Fa ther Judge would sadly lose his life a day later at the World Trade Center. In 2023, our members responded to an explosion, which sadly resulted in the loss of life for a beloved community member. In October, mem bers responded without hesitation to assist in Lewiston with a tragic mass shooting, with the biggest concern on their mind being how we can help? Countless times we interact with friends, neighbors, or strangers on what is one of the worst days of their life. We hear them, empathize with them, and help them. That’s what we do. We get on the rig and we do our job. In terms of volume, 2023 was our third busiest year on record, down slight ly from 2022. We finished with 639 calls for service, compared to 681 the year before. This is our fourth consecutive year being over 600 calls for service. Below is a graph showing the breakdown of our last five years, with the last three being our busiest.

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