Meet our board members

Chief Nick Wallick, PresidentHebron Fire Department, Fire Chief

Chief Nick Wallick has been serving the Town of Hebron Fire Department since 1999 and has held each Officers position in the Department. Since 2014, Nick has been the Fire Chief of the combination department of three stations, 19 pieces of apparatus and roster of 70 members. He teaches firefighting classes on a regular basis, primarily Hazmat for Firefighter 1 in which he is a Certified Instructor. Nick holds numerous certifications.
Nick has a business background in Polymer Chemistry, serving from 1987 to 2012 as the Vice President of Operations, including Environmental, Health and Safety, for Dur-a-flex,Inc. of East Hartford,CT. a manufacturer of polymer coatings for the concrete industry. Nick is certified in Lean Manufacturing, and has a certificate in Project Management.
In his spare time, Nick enjoys hiking, motorcycling and traveling and any golf course.

Bruce Dixon, 1st VPBolton Vol. Fire Department, Fire Chief

Chief Bruce Dixon has enjoyed forty-eight years in the fire service, beginning in the Bolton Volunteer Fire Department. After relocating, he spent ten years in the Manchester Fire Department, Eighth Utilities District, followed by nineteen years in the Tolland Fire Department, rising through the ranks and serving ten years as Deputy Chief. He then returned to Bolton Volunteer Fire Department, where he now serves as the Chief of the department.

Chief Dixon has been an instructor with the Eastern Connecticut Fire School in Willimantic for eighteen years and now serves on their Board of Directors. He is also a member of the Board of Directors as well as Secretary at the Tolland County Mutual Aid Fire Service, Inc. in Tolland, CT.

Professionally, Chief Dixon spent over thirty years in senior management positions in the industrial maintenance equipment business, working throughout the United States. As a private pilot, he is currently the Operations Manager and Secretary of the CAP Flying Association, based out of Brainard Field (KHFD) in Hartford.

Bruce resides in Bolton with his wife Bernice.

Robert Duval, 2nd VPAtwood Hose, Fire Chief

Robert serves as the Chief of the Atwood Hose Fire Company in his hometown of Wauregan, CT, where he has been a member since 1981. He has also worked as an emergency services dispatcher at QV Dispatch Center in northeastern Connecticut since 1986.
He has served on the instructional staff of the Eastern CT Fire Training School for more than 15 years.
Robert also serves as a Communications Specialist with CT-TF1 – Urban Search and Rescue team.
Robert is the Northeast Regional Director/Fire Investigator for the NFPA (National Fire Protection Association), based in Quincy, Massachusetts. Robert is responsible for conducting investigations of technically significant incidents in order to gather, “Lessons Learned” from each incident to apply those lessons to improving NFPA codes and standards. The investigation of these incidents includes documenting the emergency services response, the structure(s) involved as well as the events leading up to and following the incident.
As Regional Director, Robert is responsible for outreach within the northeast states regarding code adoptions, and training. He also serves as a point of contact for stakeholders in the NFPA process; including the fire service, engineering and safety professionals.

Executive Officers

Richard McDonough, Secretary – Southington Fire Department

Gerald Buzzy Schaffer, Treasurer – Mansfield Fire Department

Jamie Dipace, Assistant Secretary – Avon Fire Department

Past Presidents

Kevin Cooney – South Windsor Fire Department

Marc Scrivener – Willimantic Fire Department

Michael Thurtz – Glastonbury Fire Department

Regional Representatives

Peter Starkel – Tolland County, Windham County, Litchfield County

Richard Bailey – Hartford County

Fred Dudek, Jr. – Middlesex County

Ron Stolz – New London County, Fairfield County

Tim Wall – New Haven County