Tommy McQuade

Profile Information:

Type of Organization

Fire/Rescue Department - Combination

Job Function

Lieutenant

Years in Fire/EMS:

15

Primary Fire/EMS Department:

Newington Fire & Rescue, Newington, NH

Years With Department/Agency

12.5

Other Past or Current Departments and Organizations

Kittery Fire Dept, Dist. 2, Kittery, ME. July 1999 - Sept. 2001
Tri-State Ambulance, Concord, NH Nov. 1993 - Nov. 1994

My Training:

FF-I, FF-C, FF-II, FF-III, Haz-Mat Ops, Haz-Mat Decon, Aircraft First Responder, Driver-Operator All vehicles, R.I.T., I.C.S., N.I.M.S., Fire Officer 1, Fire Officer 2, Fire Officer 3, Instructor 1, Fire Inspector 1, Wildland Firefighter, NH Deputy Forest Warden, Small Boat Coxswain (up to 28'), Marine Terminal Firefighter.

EMS Coordinator/ Training Officer - Newington Fire & Rescue, NREMT-I, M.C.I. Pre-Planning, NH EMS Region 3 Training Council, NH EMS Awards Commitee, NH TEMSIS Roll-out, A.H.A. BLS-CPR Instructor

About Me:

Where to start? I have always wanted to be a firefighter for as long as I can remember, like starting when I was 4 years old. I got my EMT-B in 1993 and started with a private ambulance service, which gave me some experience but wasn't what I wanted to do. I left there somewhat discouraged but a freind convinced me to join the Newington Fire Department as a Call-firefighter which I did in January of 1995. In May of 1996 I was appointed to a full-time position with Newington and was the "floater" from May until January of 1997 when I was assigned to a permanent shift (B-Shift).

I moved back to my hometown for a couple of years in 1999 and was convinced to join that fire department as a Call-member as well, assigned to the District 2 station in Kittery Point, Maine. I had grown up next door to this station so I was intimately familiar with the apparatus and most of the members. In my 2 years with Kittery I went from Probie (less than 2 hours) to Firefighter, to Engineer, to Lieutenant, holding that position until I moved out of town and resigned from the department.

In May of 2002 I was promoted to EMS Coordinator for the Newington Fire Department. This was followed by a promotion to Lieutenant in September of that year as well and a renaming and restructuring of the department. As Lieutenant, I am the Shift commander for B-shift, and also the head of the EMS Division as well. Over the course of my career I have had the pleasure of taking many classes as well as being able to teach new firefighters and the public. I am a charter member of I.A.F.F. L-4104, The Professional Firefighters of Newington, and a past president of the local. I helped organize and run the annual christmas toy drive starting in 2000, and although my community fortunately does not have many in need of that type of service, we take great pride in being able to help out our neighboring departments that struggle to meet the demand for toys for their communities each holiday season. In 2003 we adopted the families of the NH Air National Guard whose members have been deployed overseas in service to our country and try to ease their burden by making sure that their children at least have a Christmas with presents even if we can't get their mom or dad home to be with them.

In June of 2007 I joined Lakeside Ambulance in Wolfeboro, NH as an EMT-I to make some extra money since all of my fan mail seems to want my money.

Relationship Status:

Separated

Why I Joined Fire/EMS

It is the one thing I have always wanted to be since I was 4 years old

Why I Love Fire/EMS

It's never the same day twice

Top Issues Facing Responders:

Staffing, Funding, and training...not enough of each.

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