New Fire Chief Dave Lane embraces his wife Lorraine after she pinned on his new badge and collar pins.
Gideon Homen, 3, holds onto a fire hat after winning it as a go-fish prize. The go-fish game was among the bouncy house and an ice cream sundae bar in the activities provided for children after the ceremony.
Henry Cahoon, 6, crawls out of a tube in the bouncy house.
Chief Dave Lane and Interim Chief Michael Greer serve ice cream at the event's sundae bar.
SEELEY LAKE - The Seeley Lake Fire Department welcomed a new chief and promoted several members of their company in a ceremony June 2 that was then followed by food and games for the community.
Interim Fire Chief Michael Greer gave a speech about the importance of leadership as he awarded several members of the company with honors as well as promoting new officers.
Greer then announced James Sackett's promotion to the department's official safety officer, which had previously been a rotating position. Michael Richards was named the new training officer and coordinator.
New ranking promotions were also announced as family members came forward to pin new badges onto the recipients' uniforms. Randy Gazda was formally recognized for his promotion to lieutenant. Kody Kelley was promoted to Lieutenant after recently completing his EMT certification. Kyle Zumwalt was named an officer candidate, which is not a formal promotion to leadership but a stepping stone to begin the process of taking on a leadership role.
Finally, Greer introduced the new chief, Dave Lane. Lane thanked the community for the warm welcome.
The event continued outdoors with a lunch of hamburgers, hot dogs, chips and soda which was followed by an ice cream sundae bar. There was also a bouncy house and a go-fish game for kids.
After the ceremony, Sackett, or "Papa Jim" discussed his hopes for the future of the department.
"I'd like to see us becoming a 50-50 department, half volunteer and half paid" Sackett said. "Right now our response times are 10 to 12 minutes. We could get down to seven easily if we had full-time paid people."
Sackett also said he hoped the community knew the fire department was always there for them.
"If they need us in any way, and we can't do it ourselves, we will find out how to help them and get them what they need," he said. "Our doors are always open."
Zumwalt also felt hopeful for the fresh start.
"We have positive change and lots of new endeavors," he said. "There's lots of potential in the future."
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