On Saturday evening at 1700 hours the Susquehanna Hose Company held their yearly Installation and Awards Banquet at the Havre de Grace Community Center. Members and guests enjoyed a social hour from 1700 to 1800 hours until the banquet began at 1800 hours. President Packard Sr. welcomed all members and guests which was followed by an introduction of the evenings Toastmaster past Chief Merrill Dougherty. After an introduction of the Toastmaster Chaplain Frank Roth President Packard Sr. Vice President Gamatoria Chief Hurst and Deputy Chief Packard dedicated the 2007 Annual Banquet in memoriam of Vince Way. Following the dedication invocation was given by Chaplain Roth and dinner was served. Members and guests enjoyed prime rib chicken cordon bleu steamed fried shrimp and other side items. After dinner was complete Toastmaster Dougherty introduced all of the special guests. Following the introduction of the guests Fastest Volunteer Productions presented two slide shows which included an off duty video and an action video of the past year. Both slide shows were produced by Firefighter Billy Lamana and were very enjoyable. At the conclusion of the Fastest Volunteer Productions slide shows a presentation was put on by the Ladies Auxiliary in celebration of their 50 years of service. The presentation included a video clip from the early 1990s where the ladies were featured on Channel 13 WJZ. Following the video presentation all members of the Ladies Auxiliary were presented with awards for their dedication and service to the Susquehanna Hose Company. Chief Hurst then gave his 2006 Fire Chiefs Report which included a run down of the incidents the Hose Company responded on. During the year of 2006 the Hose Company responded on a total of 769 calls averaging 43.01 members per call an average response time of 1 minute and 13 seconds and an average on scene time of 3 minutes and 3 seconds. Following the Chiefs report Community Service awards Special awards Past Chiefs award Chiefs award and Past Presidents award were given out to the members. Following this the Top Fire Responders and members with the most training hours over the past year were presented with awards from the four Chiefs. Unit Citations were also presented to the Division Officers by the Chiefs. Engine 513s committee and Tower 531s committee were then presented with plaques in recognition of their hard work and dedication on the new pieces of apparatus. Following all of this it was finally time to present the Record Firefighter of the Year and Susquehanna Hose Company Firefighter of the Year awards. Firefighter Paul Ishak was presented with the Record Firefighter of the Year award and Captain 5-1 Lance Waller was presented with the Susquehanna Hose Company Firefighter of the Year award. Following all the awards came the installation of the Administrative Officers and the Fire Line Officers. Proclamations Recognitions were then presented by the City of Havre de Grace Harford County Government and the State of Maryland. During this time Harford County Government recognized the Susquehanna Hose Company as being the Fastest Volunteers in the Nation. Chaplain Roth ended the Banquet portion of the evening with Benediction which was followed by the dance with music by M.C. Productions. It was a great evening for all members and guests. Special thanks goes to the Banquet Committee chaired by Barry Hewitt and the Awards Committed chaired by Jim Miller.The Susquehanna Hose Company would also like to send a special thanks to the Bel Air Volunteer Fire Company. Bel Air Engine 314 captained by Ricky Davis covered the Hose Company during the banquet and dance. During this time Engine 314 handled three runs with Company 5-9 including a save of a patient in cardiac arrest in the 503 box area. Many thanks guys.
