After 25 years with the Colebrook Fire Department, Chief Phillip Ducret has announced that he will retire on January 1. Candidates for a new chief will be nominated at the Colebrook Fire District Meeting on Tuesday, November 8, and elected at the following meeting on the first Tuesday in December.

The demands of a fire chief in Colebrook have grown, said Chief Ducret, and as the owner and proprietor of Ducret's Sporting Goods in Colebrook, fire inspections have been taking too much of his time. Three or four days a week, the local fire chief is called upon by insurance companies to inspect wood stove installations, conduct fire safety inspections at foster homes and day care centers, and issue permits of assembly for capacity ratings which must be submitted annually with the fire chief's signature. "It's not the fire calls," he said. "It's all the other things, and I need to spend more time concentrating on my own business."

Mr. Ducret has been chief of the Colebrook Fire Department for the past five years. He said he joined the department at the prompting of former chief Ronnie Hughes of Colebrook, and took over the chief's position when Brad Sheltry retired on June 30, 1999 for medical reasons.

During his tenure, Chief Ducret has seen the department through an addition to the fire station on Pleasant Street to house a new fire truck, and the purchase of the Quint aerial/pumper truck in 2002. The department continues to work to upgrade its equipment, and in March received precinct voters' approval to purchase a medium-duty truck to carry equipment for all types of emergency calls.

Training has become a lot more involved within the department, and some of the firefighters have become certified as Emergency Medical Technicians and First Responders. In 2004, Colebrook firefighters responded to 92 calls, many of which were rescue calls for accidents involving motor vehicles, snowmobiles and ATVs. Only 24 were actual fire calls.

Nominations for a new chief could be one of the department's officers, such as First Assistant Chief Brett Brooks of Columbia, Second Assistant Chief David Woodard of Colebrook, and Captains David Colby of Colebrook, Earl Bunnell II of Colebrook, Rick Parker of Columbia and Murray Duke of Lemington. There are currently 35 active members on the Colebrook Fire Department.

Chief Ducret said he will continue to fulfill his duties as an elected fire warden until his term expires in March of 2007. If needed, he said he will also continue with the duties of a forest fire warden. He explained that this is a position which would normally fall to the fire chief, and it must be held by a resident of Colebrook.

(Issue of November 2, 2005)