The Chugiak Volunteer Fire and Rescue 2020 Annual Report has been released and is now available for review. The link to download the 2020 Annual Report is below.
Letter from the Chief
It is once again a pleasure to provide the Annual Report of Chugiak Volunteer Fire & Rescue. The only admonition is that this past year sucked! I often joke that no one ever told me when I accepted this job that it was cold or that it snowed in Alaska. But, what is certainly true is no one warned me about earthquakes and pandemics. Unfortunately, the difficulties of 2020 were compounded by some very personal losses. I lost several friends, colleagues and mentors including my first “career” lieutenant. It is never easy to say goodbye, but when you’re unable to even travel to bid farewell it is even tougher. These facts coupled with the loss of Cliff Gilmore the first Chugiak chief I ever knew, Mike Witman who I came to know as a great family man, and my dear friend Scott McClain will make me say to hell with 2020 for years to come. You know what though? This report is not going to dwell on the misery associated with 2020. So therefore, you can search this report high and low and I will not reference Covid, SARS, virus, or pandemic again. What we will celebrate are the highlights.
The commitment and effort of the men and women of CVFR is as strong as any organization with which I’ve ever been affiliated. This was even more obvious this year. Members stepped up instead of stepping aside, they looked for additional duties instead of looking for hiding places, and they were willing to take whatever precautions were needed to protect the community as much as protect themselves. They hunkered down, they social distanced, they screened, they took temps, they administered vaccinations and they wore some crazy get-ups in the name of protective equipment, but most of all they continued to serve the citizens of Chugiak.
Business as usual was certainly not the theme for 2020. But in hindsight, we did just that. We responded to over 1100 calls with the same commitment to the community as we have all come to expect. We chose our theme for 2020 back in February before the “you know what” blew up. That theme was STRENGTH. Man, did we not know at that time just how strong we would become.
Surely 2021 promises better times for CVFR. Some semblance of normalcy seems to be the catch phrase we are all hearing. I for one am hopeful that this normalcy includes family dinners, visits from friends and neighbors, a gift box of cookies delivered to the fire house, bumper time, puppy kisses and hugs from those that haven’t hugged in months. But even if those things are delayed awhile longer, we can all rest comfortable knowing that CVFR is here to serve.
Thank each one of you for making Chugiak the best volunteer fire company in Alaska!
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2020 Annual Report (PDF)