Around eight months ago, Michael Dandurand was deployed, putting on hold his career as a firefighter with the Central Coventry Fire District to serve his country from overseas.
“It feels good to be back,” Dandurand said, standing Friday morning in a bay of the fire station on Arnold Road during his first shift back. “It’s good to reach back home and have the support.”
At 8 a.m., tones rang through the garage as dispatch performed its daily radio test, checking the base radios in each of the town’s stations. And at around 10 minutes past 8 a.m., approximately an hour into Dandurand’s 24-hour shift, another message echoed through the station.
“Central Coventry Fire District would like to welcome back firefighter Michael Dandurand from active military service,” the voice on the other end of the radio began.