Alpena firemen honored at city council
Fire captain’s Andy Marceau and Brett Miller are two of only six officers in Alpena to have completed the school of fire staff and command education and training program.
Fire captain Andy Marceau told WBKB why he took on a nine month program to continue his education.
“As a current leader in the fire department, i always want to expand my skills, so you have to leave the confines of Alpena county and get out there and learn from other people. There were many other fire department members throughout the state of Michigan that were there, and to learn how they do things, what has worked and what hasn’t, that’s what it’s all about.”
Both fire department attendees were able to build new skills they can use in Alpena.
“How they staff their fire department in metro Detroit may be different then how we do it in rural Michigan. But i can look at their model and maybe adapt it to our model up here. Different things like how they respond to calls, to how many fire fighters they take on a call. And how they do staffing is one major thing we can look at. We can learn from each other. I learned from them and i hope they learned just as much from me because i brought more rural ems skills, ” said Marceau.
Alpena fire department chief Bill Forbush is set to retire in roughly one year.
Forbush earned a diploma from the same program and said it is designed for persons interested in leadership roles within the department.
