The Fire Wire is 20 Years Old
There won't be any big cake or even a party. We mark the occasion by looking forward to the future and not looking back. Well, maybe we'll look at some of the old publications and see how far we've come. 2008 marks our 20th year of putting out The Northland Fire Wire. We've seen this publication grow to where it is today and frankly, we take a little pride in how far we've come. We'd also like to thank those who have supported us throughout the years.
Since our first edition, the goal of The Northland Fire Wire has been to put out a quality publication to the fire departments and firefighters of the Arrowhead Region. The Fire Wire is not a money making operation, otherwise we would have crammed the pages with ads and reduced the number of articles. We still stick by our rule of limited advertising on each page. I just recently had a potential advertiser hang up on us because he couldn't get an ad in the Fire Wire. Oh well!! The Fire Wire has been strictly a hobby for us. Sometimes it has been a fun undertaking and there are times when we wonder what we are doing. Like any publication, we always seem to struggle with getting articles, but then manage to end up with a surplus. Behind the scenes, we agonize when we find mistakes in stories. I can still recall "trashing" an entire edition because we misspelled Rex Lentner's name. We strive for accuracy in every story we do. It is something we take very, very seriously.
The Fire Wire would not have occurred without the strong support of the Arrowhead Regional Firefighters' Association, although we haven't always agreed in the direction that the organization has taken and have said so. However, our relationship remains strong and we have a great working relationship with ARFA President Ron Minter. Another strength comes from our loyal advertisers. Some of them have been with us since the very beginning and we appreciate their confidence in us. We certainly appreciate their support. And, we have a great partner with the Ely Echo, which has been our publisher for many years. Anne Swenson and her team do a wonderful job for us and they have really improved "the look" of the publication.
We have some big ideas for the future. We'll continue the publication with our current six pages. We did try more, but it didn't work out. And, we plan to continue to expand and update our website, www.nlfirewire.com. More than anything else, we will continue our tradition of a quality publication for the region's fire departments and firefighters which has been our goal since Day One.