NEAFC 32nd Annual Conference.pdf - New England Association of ...

NEW ENGLAND ASSOCIATION OF FIRE CHIEFS
I ~tand with you, proud of the protection we give and of the profession
that we represent, and I am particularly privileged, this year, to bring to you
the greetings of the International Association of Fire Chiefs.
Now, the International Association is only the collection of divisions.
It is an Association which has as its objective the furtherance of the fire service,
not only the personnel in it, but also it is set up so that you and I may better
serve our respective communities.
If I may be permitted to offer a suggestion to this Conference, it would
be that each and every one of us, Fire Chiefs, stop and pause and think of the
real objective of this meeting, which is to further our own education, to make
us better and more capable Fire Chiefs, and at the same time God-fearing people,
people who have faith in each other, faith in ourselves, and faith in God, which
is so much needed today in this land where so many people doubt each other.
This year, it is again my special privilege to be able to introduce to you
the new General Manager of the International Association of Fire Chiefs. I
hope, as you see him and his family around the hotel, that you will stop and talk
with him. He is not a fire-fighter, but you will find that he is a man of sound
ideas, dedicated to you, dedicated to serving and to serving you.
My friends, I am delighted and very happy to present to you Mr. John D.
Gerletti, the General Manager of the International Association of Fire Chiefs.
(Applause.)
MR. JOHN D. GERLETTI: Thank you, Chief Thomas. Mr. President,
Reverend Clergy, Members of this gathering of the New England Association
of Fire Chiefs, and their friends and guests. I want to thank the entire fire
service, and especially this New England Association, for the kind courtesies
that you have extended to me since I have been General Manager of the International
Association of Fire Chiefs.
For an outsider to come in and mingle with and work with and be with
the fire service, and to be accepted the way I have been, it is certainly wonderful,
and I want to thank you for that.
I was wonderfully honored today. Let me take three or four minutes
to outline some of the things that happened at the International Association
of Fire Chiefs, basically because the New England Association has again contributed
some of the most outstanding leadership the International Association
has ever had. I refer to your present President, Chief Thomas.
This year, we are undergoing a complete revision and re-evaluation of all
goals and objectives, and a re-defining of them, for the International Association
of Fire Chiefs, re-defining them in terms of the needs and wants of the Fire
Chiefs, and making it, again, a real Chief’s organization. We have had a slight
revision in, and we anticipate having more, the general idea behind it being
one of stimulating interest, one of writing something that the Fire Chiefs of the
nation can be proud of, one that can bring out many new ideas in the fire
service.
We started a new publication program of publishing things, not by outsiders
of the fire service, but from within the fire service itself, such as the
Fireman’s Law Book.
We have started a new program of wo’rklng with the Editors of the nation,
at a national, top level.
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