East Montpelier Fire Department

The staff/volunteers here are inspiring examples of kindness, consideration, generosity and carefulness. I had the opportunity to spend a day with fire chiefs from East Montpelier and Woodbury Fire Departments (respectively) Ty Rolland and Paul Cerutti, and their incredible teams, last October, when the two departments came together to use a sweet, troubled, old building on some family trust land, for a training burn, to train many young or new volunteers to do the brave work for which they have signed on.nnIt’s not easy to put into words what it was like to witness their selfless efforts and example of service.nnWe, honestly, had zero idea how much work went into a training burn and my family and I were deeply moved by it. We were moved by their respectful and selfless service on so many levels: to each other—watching out for each other, protecting each other, educating each other, listening to each other; to us—their inclusivity, inviting us to understand better what they do, to listen to us and provide opportunity for us to have some very meaningful moments along the way; and to their service to future people, occasions, souls and properties by taking the time to get together and learn with this training.nnSo…those are only three levels of service I can identify without even digging. With digging, I’ll bet that the service they do –that they did this last October and that they doubtless do on every job—that that service affects more people in more ways than I can imagine.nnWe offer our deep respect, admiration and gratitude to Chiefs Ty & Paul; to Chance, Roy, Arlene, Olivia, Dylan, Gavin, and to each and every one of the volunteers in these two departments. I’m sorry I don’t know all their names, but their faces, hearts and actions will likely stay with my family and me for a very long time.