Dick
Nice video it really captured the essence of this great regional parade. I’m surprised at all the political signs. I thought they were a “no-no” except for elected officials. Most seemed to be for Republicans - what did we miss? Did the fire truck “parade”? mps
The Republicans had a healthy presence in the parade, but there were plenty of Democrats, too. I’m not sure about past practice on candidate signs. As for fire engines, there weren’t any, from Chelmsford or anywhere else.
No. there wasn’t a single piece of fire equipment. In past years, other communities have sent fire vehicles and there have always been antique fire engines, but there was nothing this year. On Warren Shaw’s show on WCAP this morning, Dennis Ready (who appears in the video in the Chelmsford Democratic Town Committee vehicle) said it was obviously a boycott but that, whatever the motives for skipping the parade where, it created a lot of negative feelings towards the fire fighters amongst the townspeople.
Bad PR move no doubt and not one that will be forgotten or easy to recover from. How will they be received from here on out if they do march? Can’t wait to see firefighters booed. Just like the events in Boston this makes everyone who wears the uniform look bad. I don’t blame the firefighters feeling the way they do for what the CFD has been put through like closing a station and threatening layoffs (nevermind the ambulance issue bashing). Read some of the comments on the Lowell Sun site to see what some people think about their firefighters. But you have to pick your battles and this one was lose/lose. They made their point but at what cost? Probably their entire reputations.
As for other communities those fire depts would have to be invited to participate by the CFD, so if that call never came, no one else would be there. Simple domino effect of one decision. I don’t know of any active boycott that took place. Not that it couldn’t and wouldn’t happen if we were asked, but I never heard about it and I pay attention to this stuff. Of course Lowell is not part of the PFFM so it may have been announced there and we would never know.
One big reason for the absence of antique fire trucks this year at all these type events (Not just Chelmsford) is that the cost of fuel is killing the owners. Some of these beasts get 2 MPG. It costs some owners a couple hundred bucks out of pocket to participate, on top of maintenance and insurance. It truly is a labor or love. In fact the large parade at the New England Fire Chief’s show at the Big E was not even held this year. There was just the Mass SPAMFAA event two weeks earlier and another big event coming up, so these guys need to be choosy
Most other municipalities are not sorry to keep their apapratus from leaving town for non essential functions. In Lowell we are already being told to curtail all driving operations of fire apparatus, combine tasks on one trip and shut the truck down whenever possible, even though that can be bad long term for the engines. In fact today is the first scheduled fuel delivery of the fiscal year. We were all told to only fill up if absolutely necessary the last few days because we were running so low on fuel. I’m not saying this was the reason for the parade issues but I doubt people would have been lining up anyway.
If anyone is still interested in seeing fire trucks after all this, the Westford Fire Dept is holding their 100th anniversary parade and muster on Saturday July 19th. Free to all. Hopefully there will be a good turnout.
Dick
Nice video it really captured the essence of this great regional parade. I’m surprised at all the political signs. I thought they were a “no-no” except for elected officials. Most seemed to be for Republicans - what did we miss? Did the fire truck “parade”? mps
The Republicans had a healthy presence in the parade, but there were plenty of Democrats, too. I’m not sure about past practice on candidate signs. As for fire engines, there weren’t any, from Chelmsford or anywhere else.
I can’t imagine a July 4th Parade without firetrucks. Not even an antique? Sounds like a boycott to me.
No. there wasn’t a single piece of fire equipment. In past years, other communities have sent fire vehicles and there have always been antique fire engines, but there was nothing this year. On Warren Shaw’s show on WCAP this morning, Dennis Ready (who appears in the video in the Chelmsford Democratic Town Committee vehicle) said it was obviously a boycott but that, whatever the motives for skipping the parade where, it created a lot of negative feelings towards the fire fighters amongst the townspeople.
Bad PR move no doubt and not one that will be forgotten or easy to recover from. How will they be received from here on out if they do march? Can’t wait to see firefighters booed. Just like the events in Boston this makes everyone who wears the uniform look bad. I don’t blame the firefighters feeling the way they do for what the CFD has been put through like closing a station and threatening layoffs (nevermind the ambulance issue bashing). Read some of the comments on the Lowell Sun site to see what some people think about their firefighters. But you have to pick your battles and this one was lose/lose. They made their point but at what cost? Probably their entire reputations.
As for other communities those fire depts would have to be invited to participate by the CFD, so if that call never came, no one else would be there. Simple domino effect of one decision. I don’t know of any active boycott that took place. Not that it couldn’t and wouldn’t happen if we were asked, but I never heard about it and I pay attention to this stuff. Of course Lowell is not part of the PFFM so it may have been announced there and we would never know.
One big reason for the absence of antique fire trucks this year at all these type events (Not just Chelmsford) is that the cost of fuel is killing the owners. Some of these beasts get 2 MPG. It costs some owners a couple hundred bucks out of pocket to participate, on top of maintenance and insurance. It truly is a labor or love. In fact the large parade at the New England Fire Chief’s show at the Big E was not even held this year. There was just the Mass SPAMFAA event two weeks earlier and another big event coming up, so these guys need to be choosy
Most other municipalities are not sorry to keep their apapratus from leaving town for non essential functions. In Lowell we are already being told to curtail all driving operations of fire apparatus, combine tasks on one trip and shut the truck down whenever possible, even though that can be bad long term for the engines. In fact today is the first scheduled fuel delivery of the fiscal year. We were all told to only fill up if absolutely necessary the last few days because we were running so low on fuel. I’m not saying this was the reason for the parade issues but I doubt people would have been lining up anyway.
If anyone is still interested in seeing fire trucks after all this, the Westford Fire Dept is holding their 100th anniversary parade and muster on Saturday July 19th. Free to all. Hopefully there will be a good turnout.