Chris Menge

2nd Vice Chair (Section 1)

I just wanted to take a moment to introduce myself to the group. I was born and raised in Hagaman a small town in upstate New York. I began my ARFF career in the Airforce in 2001 graduating from Goodfellow AFB. My military career gave me the opportunity to receive amazing training and have some fantastic mentors. One thing instilled during my military time was the importance of training and education. I pursued both over time reaching National Certification in Fire Officer 4 and Fire Instructor 3, as well as earning my master’s degree in Emergency Management from the University of New Haven. After the military, I was onto the Albany International Airport, where I currently serve as a Captain in the training division. Today, I also participate in many other things. I work as a New York State Fire Instructor teaching outreach fire training at the academy and throughout the state. I teach some courses at the Fulton Montgomery Community College as well with 139 Fire delivering ARFF training across the country. I do spend most of the time working as a part owner of Calderwood Training Solutions. We develop custom training programs across the emergency services spectrum as well as offer safety training and exercise design. In my down time, I’m a big sports fan, the Yankees take most of my time in spring and summer, and the Redskins own the fall. I love watching my daughters play softball, basketball and volleyball coached by my wife. Though I have had some great mentors no one had been more important to my life then my wife Nicole. She has always pushed me to achieve my goals, and supported me thru them all, from taking care of our 2 daughters Emma (8) and Avery (6) so I can attend training, or reading papers at midnight to ensure I have the correct punctuation and spellings. I hope to be able to bring good communication and build partnerships in section 1. I hope my experience and networking will be able to help solve some of the issues we are challenged with as well as increase the profile of the ARFF community in the emergency service arena. Thank you for electing me to the position and I hope to serve the group well.