Sheriff's report reveals details of one Gilmanton Fire Department driving incident.

GILMANTON - The report of an official investigation into the alleged poor driving behavior of an unnamed fire department officer responding to a structure fire on June 4 is harshly critical of whomever was driving the command vehicle and poses more questions more than it answers

While the report, prepared by the Belknap County Sheriff's Department at the request of the Board of Selectmen and made available after a Right-to-Know request filed by The Daily Sun, provides a graphic description of the actual incident, it says at least one member of the Gilmanton Fire Department refused to cooperate with the investigation.

The report said the command vehicle crossed solid yellow lines on a winding portion of Rte. 107 in order to pass a fire truck and an ambulance and get to the head of the line of first responders. The name of that driver is being kept private by town officials.

The incident occurred at dusk and a motorcycle rider who was approaching the emergency vehicles from the opposite direction was forced off the road in what witnesses described as a close call.

The report also confirms the identity of the motorcyclist remains a mystery but he was certainly not the man whose name was at the bottom of a letter to editor of The Daily Sun that prompted the investigation in the first place.

The investigation was hindered by an uncooperative eye-witness.

"I made several attempts to contact [the non-cooperative driver of the fire engine,] leaving phone messages and a business card at his home requesting that he call me," wrote investigating Deputy Sheriff Joseph Schillinger, who noted that the man would have the "best view" of the '"close call.'"

"[redacted] eventually left me a voice mail stating that he did not wish to speak with me. He was never interviewed as part of this inquiry," Schillinger continued.

"We can't compel people to talk to us," said Lt. Christopher Cost of the sheriff's department yesterday, adding that, in general, non-cooperation with the police is not all that unusual.

"It's fair to assume that we would expect (someone to cooperate with an investigation we asked for) said Selectboard Chair Betty Ann Abbott, also yesterday.

She said the board discussed the driving incident and the non-cooperative employee in non-public sessions and was given an explanation that it considered satisfactory.

While Schillinger's investigation met a brick wall in the form of the driver of the responding fire truck, the two unidentified people in the cab of the ambulance provided first-hard accounts and the driver of the command vehicle cooperated as well.

The letter to The Daily Sun was signed by a Gregory Jandreau of Belmont. The author wrote that he was heading up Rte. 107 when he saw the fire command vehicle pass the ambulance and fire truck. He said he was forced onto the road shoulder to avoid a head-on collision with the command car.

In his report, Schillinger wrote that one emergency responder he interviewed said there was talk at the station after the call that the motorcyclist "probably needed to change his pants" after the "close call." Schillinger also wrote that many emergency responders also felt the motorcyclist should have pulled over sooner when he saw the emergency lights.

The unanswered question is, why the name Gregory Jandreau? A real enough person, who goes by that name and who has lived in the Lakes Region in recent years, could not have been on the motorcycle on June 4 because he was incarcerated in the Maine State Prison in Warren that day.

A woman at the Maine Department of Corrections confirmed yesterday Schillinger's report that said Jandreau was in prison at the the time. He was released on July 19 and cannot be reached.

"I am curious to know what that's about," said Abbott.

Cost also said he would be interested in learning the real identity of the letter writer and why Jandreau's name was picked.

In his conclusion, Schillinger writes, "the identity of the motorcyclist is unknown. The identity of the person who authored the letter to the editor is likewise unknown. However, the fire department members who were responding on Province Road [redacted] all agree that there was a northbound motorcyclist who ended up on the shoulder due to what can only be described as a 'near miss' between the motorcyclist and [redacted.]

"It is my opinion that had the vehicle in question been a passenger car, truck or other four-wheeled vehicle, it would not have been able to get itself completely out of the northbound travel lane and a collision with [redacted] quite possibly would have occurred."

In response to this investigation and a different incident involving a responding fire engine nearly running another car off the road, Fire Chief Kenneth "KG" Lockwood has designed and the selectmen have approved a new set of training and driving standards for the fire department.

As to Schillinger's report, Lockwood yesterday declined specific comment. He would only say that he supported every member of his department.

Gilmanton Town Administrator Tim Warren said yesterday that the N.H. State Police are investigating the second incident, but have not completed their report.