Dan Vindigni was pictured in the Observer last month when he was promoted to his new volunteer position as deputy chief of the Suffield Fire Department. We didn’t appreciate then that he also serves Suffield as a member of the town’s Emergency Management Committee. The Observer received information subsequently about the exceptional training that Dan recently completed for Suffield.
The Town had nominated him as a candidate to attend the FEMA National Emergency Management Executive Academy, and he was accepted – one of only 40 in this year’s program from 120 applicants nationwide. The training comprises four separate one-week sessions in February, April, June, and August, using the facilities of the National Fire Academy in Emmitsburg, Md., (near Gettysburg, Pa.). Living quarters are provided at the school; for government candidates, FEMA also pays for travel and other living expenses. Suffield was the smallest of all the governmental entities with students in this year’s course. Vindigni finished the final week on August 30.
According to the FEMA press release, the course is intended to advance the emergency management profession at strategic and executive leadership positions, instilling emergency management leaders with a deeper understanding of contemporary and emerging emergency management issues, debates, and public policy. The final week ends with a collaborative capstone project.
Dan Vindigni, after serving as assistant town manager in Enfield, became the emergency management consultant for Mass Mutual, his current full-time job. He has been interested in fire fighting since his youth and was a volunteer fireman in Long Island at age 18. In Enfield, in addition to his professional position, he signed up again as a volunteer fireman, and in Suffield he has been a volunteer in the fire department since 2006. In 2015, he was made a “citizen member” of the Suffield Emergency Management Advisory Council, which includes the town’s three chiefs (fire, police, and ambulance), the first selectman, and two citizen appointees. The Town’s Emergency Management Department consists of Emergency Management Director Art Groux and the advisory council. Groux is also the chief of the Suffield Volunteer Ambulance Association, a private non-profit.
Our town is lucky to have folks like Dan Vindigni looking out for us.