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Featured Website of the
Week:
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Structure Fire
in Derby
Weds, March
10th
For those of
you who are awake and listening to the fire at
3:20am, here is a photo taken from an iPhone
from one of our correspondents on scene...
...it is the
closest thing we have to a live streaming feed
of fires at the moment, but stay tuned...you
never know what's next around this place...
Location: 196
Derby Avenue.
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Road Trip to
Oyster Bay
Sunday, March
7th
Rich
Schwarzenberg and Lou Uvino took a trip to
Oyster Bay and Rich snapped some photos of a
joint drill between Atlantic Steamer and Oyster
Bay. They also attended a Polar Bear Plunge
fundraising event which benefitted the
United Cerebral Palsy Assoc of Nassau County |
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Edward J.
Cotter Jr.
Inducted into
the Connecticut Firefighters Hall of Fame
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Congratulations to Ed Cotter Jr. for
his induction into the Connecticut
Firefighters Hall of Fame. The Class
of 2010 inductees will be honored at
a dinner which will take place on
April 7th. The details can be found
below.
Check back here in April for photos
of this event as we're pretty sure
Ed's grandchildren, First Due
staffers Tom Lenart Jr. and Dave
Lenart, will have photos of this
special evening! |
Ed Cotter pictured with Father
Berberich
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Chimney Fire
Sunday, Feb
28th
The Stratford
Fire Department responds to a chimney fire.
Photos by Tom
Lenart Jr. |
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Photos above by Rich
Schwarzenberg
Photos above by Scott Pelletier
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A Few Photos
from Recent Calls...
My apologies
to the photographers for the delay in posting
these pictures, but we had to work through a
computer issue over the last few days.
The top set of
photos are from the February 14th fire at
Remington Arms in Bridgeport. Most of our
photographers were busy doing the Valentine's
Day thing, but Rich Schwarzenberg made his way
down and picked up a few shots of the incident.
The bottom set
of photos come from Scott Pelletier. There were
two MVA's on Bee Mountain Road in Oxford on
February 16th. The first was a pickup truck that
went off the road and into a brook. The second
was a car that went off the road into a yard.
<------Webmaster's Computer
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First Due
Staffer Interviewed by Major News Media Outlet
Tom Lenart
Sr., (a.k.a. - "The Consigliere") was
interviewed by the Valley Independent Sentinel.
It is an excellent interview which gives us a
brief look into the life of a man who has
dedicated a major portion of his life to helping
the citizens of Derby in their greatest hour of
need.
We did notice
a couple of glaring errors in response to a
couple of questions in the interview. When asked
to name the accomplishment he was most proud of,
Mr. Lenart did not mention the day he was
hired at First Due as his biggest accomplishment
in life. And when asked why he retired, the
former Chief failed to mention it was because he
was given a hefty raise and promoted to a
full-time photographer at First Due. We're
sure the pressure of being interviewed by a
major news outlet caused this temporary lapse of
sanity :-)
In all
seriousness, we are happy to see Tom Lenart Sr.
recognized for his efforts over these last four
decades. The world is a better place because of
him and we at First Due are proud to be
associated with him.
A portion of
the interview appears below. Click on the link
below to read the rest of the interview.
Valley Independent Sentinel: How
did you get involved with public safety and
emergency services?
Tom Lenart, Sr.: I
was originally recruited by the Hotchkiss Hose
Company as a softball player and found myself
one day at the firehouse when a call came in. We
went to the call, I encountered my future
father-in-law (legendary Storm founder and
former Evening Sentinel photojournalist Ed
Cotter)
and he pretty much dragged me through the
building and showed me what I should have been
doing.
Valley Indy: How
old were you that day when you went out to the
call?
Lenart: I
was at the tail end of high school, so 16 or
17-years-old.
Valley Indy: So
how did you go from playing softball to fighting
fires and later, becoming the chief of Storm
Ambulance?
Lenart: I
kind of enjoyed it [that first day], so I
followed through with it, then realized there
was more that could be done besides just
firefighting — and that was the medical part of
it.
Click here to read the rest of the interview
in the Valley Independent Sentinel |
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The
Staff at First Due
Click here to learn
more about the staff
Click here to email us
"The CEO"
Anthony
DeLucia
Photo courtesy of Brooke
Muratori
"The
Webmaster"
Chris
Schwarz
Photo courtesy of Ron
Burgess Jr.
"The Senior Correspondent"
Tom Lenart Jr.
"The Consigliere"
Tom Lenart Sr.
"X-IV" Fred
Tidmarsh
"The Dispatcher"
Scott Foster
"The Chairman of the Bored"
Ryan Hart
"The Chief Photographer"
Scott Pelletier
"The Bouncer"
Rich Schwarzenberg
" The Tour Commander"
Lou Oliwa
"The Secretary"
Hunny
"The Lawyer"
Dave Lenart
"The Shrink"
John D'Antona
"The Chef"
Lou Avino
Photo courtesy of Ron
Burgess Jr.
"The Ambassador"
Joe Matusovich
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