Fire Chief Blanchett told the Board of Selectmen that a multi-agency training burn is scheduled at Josiah Bartlett with about 14 agencies and roughly 50–60 firefighters expected to participate.

The department will close Josiah Bartlett Road between Route 106 and the entrance to Prime Storage for the duration of the exercise; Prime Storage customers are to use a southern entrance. The chief said the town will haul water from the Daniels Road Old Bridge area and set up an engine to pump river water for tanker refills. The chief said the town obtained variable message boards from Homeland Security to post on Route 106 and Josiah Bartlett at no cost.

Chief Blanchett said the department retrieved its tower after repairs and returned it to service but that the vehicle’s dash lights and gauges remain inoperative. The department received a $10,075 repair invoice for Ambulance 1 and thanked the Town of Epsom for loaning a second ambulance while Loudoun’s unit was under repair.

The chief reported damage to several dry-hydrant installations following freeze and thaw cycles that lifted ice and broke pipes; examples cited included Pine Ridge and the Freedom Hill Co-op dry-hydrants. He said the department plans to work with local contractors and a vendor called Grama State Fire Protection (transcript spelling) in spring to pump, inspect and repair affected dry hydrants.

Blanchett gave year-end statistics: the department ran 1,020 calls in 2024 (103 more than the previous year), requested mutual aid 148 times (37 more than last year) and received mutual aid 18 times more than the prior year. Overlapping calls (multiple incidents at once) increased to 21% of calls, up from 15% last year. He said daytime hours between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. are busiest, while many on-call staff are available later in the day.

The fire department also reported progress getting the town skating rink back into usable condition; roughly three-quarters of the rink was reported skateable at meeting time.

Ending: The chief said the department will reassess the training-burn plan if weather forecasts worsen and will coordinate police assistance for traffic control as needed.