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Canterbury fire chief reports routine calls, equipment repairs and spring preparedness
Summary
Fire Chief Clotty and department leaders reported incident totals, equipment maintenance needs and upcoming drills; department will host pancake breakfast fundraiser and coordinate a water system exercise with regional officials.
Canterbury’s fire chief provided the Select Board with a monthly operations update covering incident statistics, two recent mechanical failures on a new engine, readiness activities and planned community events.
Between Feb. 18 and March 16 the department filed 10 incident reports, recorded three arrests, five accidents, 43 citations and about 395 calls for service, the chief said. The department requested and received state police assistance on three calls. Year-to-date emergency calls were described as roughly on par with the previous year; the chief reported about 82 emergency calls for the earlier period cited in his summary.
The chief said two significant mechanical breakdowns on the newest engine occurred in recent months — one involving the pump pressure control (referred to in the meeting as the throttle on the pump) and another involving a sprocket/snow‑chain-release mechanism — and that repairs have been completed. He said the department remained within its repair budget despite the costs.
On interagency coordination, the chief said he met with Jacob Miller (identified as the newer director of the referenced water system) and planned a joint water‑system exercise in May to test fire department access and hydrant performance. He also said Canterbury Elementary completed security upgrades that will allow first responders to access key school areas in an emergency; the fire department will meet with the school principal and director to finalize arrangements.
The department’s annual pancake breakfast, its main fundraiser, is scheduled for the last Saturday in April and the department will host a regional chiefs’ roundtable the following morning. The chief also described a new national reporting platform rollout for 2025 that the town is implementing and said online burn permits are now available with a small convenience fee.
The Select Board heard routine road, building and volunteer updates from staff following the chief’s report.
