President’s Perspective:

Welcome spring, I hope that this newsletter finds you all in the middle of spring cleaning from the LONG and record breaking snowy winter and then the heavy rains that we just endured. With the price of fuel prices still on the rapid increase, we did fairly well to survive the cold winter months with as few incidents as we had. One of my new concerns is with the gasoline & diesel prices rising, higher and higher on a daily basis, that people will begin “hoarding” and improperly storing of these items. This is something that should be taken into consideration when responding to incidents over the next few months.

This has been “a wild and crazy spring”, as far as calls for service in law enforcement, fire, EMS, and the insurance industry. Fires, accidents, burglaries, building collapses, etc., all seem to be on the rise. Just remember to be safe when responding to and from calls and that at the end of the day, “Everyone goes home”.

Some new things to report at the SFMO are: the addition of three (3) new positions: 2 Investigators and one Paralegal position. I wish to congratulate Sr. Inv. Daniel Young (next years’ Chapter President) has recently been named as the new Southern Division Accelerant Detection K-9 handler. He and his new partner “Shasta” will begin training in the fall. Once the new team is certified, “Midnight” will begin her much deserved retirement. (more on Midnight’s career at a later time). There will also be a new AD K-9 team with Sr. Inv. Scott Richardson being the handler. This will be the first time that the State of Maine will have an AD K-9 trained by BATF&E, as opposed to the usual Maine Specialty Dogs, and State Farm Insurance and certified through the MCJA.

The effort that was spearheaded by Maine State Fire Marshal John Dean, on the banning the sale of “novelty lighters” was successful, with the State of Maine becoming the first state in the nation to ban these items. The Maine Legislature passed this bill as emergency legislation and it is now a law. (Title 25 MRSA Subsection 2467: It’s a civil violation, fine of upto $500.00; it is enforceable by: SFMO, state, county or municipal law enforcement, or municipal CEO). This years IAAI Arson Awareness Week was dealing with the dangers of novelty lighters, so I decided that we had just had extensive media coverage on these items, that we would not have our usual press coverage on Arson Awareness Week events.

Unfortunately not many people chose to attend the April Juvenile Firesetters Forum, held in Freeport. We had two nationally known experts on the topic and we had less than 30 people in attendance. This was a seminar that I had expected to have nearly 100 attendees, as this seminar was held to support the Maine Juvenile Fire Safety Coalition.

I am hoping that our Annual General Meeting and Training Seminar will be much better attended. The event is being held on Wednesday and Thursday June 04 & 05, 2008, at the Hilton Gardens in Freeport, Maine. This will be a classroom with hands on and field exercises course on Explosives Incidents and Investigations. (Refer to the enclosed flyer for further information). Also in conjunction with this years’ AGM, will be the 1st Annual Pierre J. (Pete) Simard Memorial Golf Tournament. This should be a great time, so mark your calendars and plan to attend.

Yours in fire safety,

Richard A. Shepard, President
Maine Chapter IAAI

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