George K. Healy

The Board of the Fire Chiefs Association hopes this issue of In Command finds everyone healthy and safe. The past year has been challenging on so many levels. Many of us have experienced the loss of those close to us at the hands of this pandemic. With the wide scale availability of the vaccine we hopefully are getting closer to a more normal life. The Department very early in the vaccination process not only secured ample doses of the vaccine for the active members but remained focused on our retirees. Soon after we were afforded the opportunity to have family members vaccinated also. The Fire Chiefs Association heard from members both active and retired how much this this meant to them. There was much praise for the Department and our IMT for the outstanding work they did. All those involved need to be commended.

The Fire Chiefs Association also needs to thank the leadership of our great Department for assisting us with our launch of virtual meetings. Beginning in January we took a step forward and began hosting our meetings virtually. This has been a great experience allowing us to continue our mission of uniting Chief officers educationally , fraternally and socially. Through these meetings we have once again experienced some level of normalcy and although virtually we have reconnected. These meetings have allowed our members to hear from our staff on how the Department is moving forward and fulfilling our mission despite the many challenges we have faced. We hope to continue with virtual meetings until we can be together once again.

Please continue to join us for our virtual meetings check our website and news letters for updates on our future events. At this point it seems reasonable that we will be back together fir our annual golf outing in August and the fall outing in Montauk this September. Please continue to stay healthy and safe and we hope to see you soon.