To all Chapter members,

As you all are well aware of, times are tough everywhere you look and our life styles have changed drastically as a result of the economy. The Maine Chapter IAAI is not immune and it too has been affected by these changes.

For the past fifteen years we have been distributing quarterly newsletters to the membership to provide a resource for information in the field of fire investigations and to advertise upcoming training seminars. With the increase in print and mail costs, it was in the best interest of the Chapter to cancel the distribution of the Chapter newsletter.

Pertinent information, articles of interest or seminar flyers will be distributed via e-mail or they will be posted on our website in the future. This should help streamline our efforts and it will provide an avenue to make sure we get the current information out to the members in a cost effective way. This action will be effective immediately. As a result of the money saved it will allow the Board of Directors to better serve you by providing members with more beneficial fire investigation-related seminars.

Please help us out and pass this message along to other Chapter members who may not have e-mail access. As always, you can visit our website at www.maineiaai.com for the latest news, updates and a listing for our upcoming training seminars. We encourage you to e-mail us with any input, comments, or experiences involving fire investigations in your area.

Our next training seminar will be “Vehicle Fire Investigations” and it will be held at Bates College in Lewiston. The one-day training seminar will be held on Thursday, June 4, 2009 with registration at 8:30 am. Our 2nd annual Pierre “Pete” Simard Memorial Golf Tournament to benefit the Joseph C. Menezes Scholarship Fund will be held on the following week on Tuesday, June 9, 2009 at the Poland Springs Golf Course in Poland, Maine. All chapter members and guests are encouraged to attend for a good time and to support a great cause.

If you have any questions or comments feel free to contact me direct at Lewiston Fire Department, 207-513-3002 ext. 3605.

Respectfully,

Paul Ouellette – IAAI, CFI
Board of Directors / Newsletter Editor