Scouting Skills That Last A Lifetime

Durham Fire Chief Dave Emanuel has made many professional and personal contributions to the two callings he loves – the fire service and Scouting. He’s spent much of his life nurturing and inspiring leadership in his firefighters and his Scouts, creating lasting values in both.

Emanuel grew up in Stratham, and still lives there, where he joined Pack 185 as a Cub Scout in second grade. He earned the Arrow of Light award and crossed over to Troop 185.

There two of his best Scouting memories were made: going to the National Jamboree in 1985 at Fort AP Hill in Virginia and to the World Jamboree in Australia in 1987 and 1988. The World Jamboree was held over the New Year’s holiday when it was midsummer in Australia.

“Those two events really opened my eyes to the world around us, whether it was on the national level or at the World Jamboree. There are usually 50 or 100 countries represented from all over the world. It was really neat being immersed in that kind of culture, camping in tents right next to us,” he said. “I think we had Italian Scouts on one side and Mexican Scouts on the other. It was really neat.”

He was the senior patrol leader for the World Jamboree and worked hand in hand with Scoutmaster Tom Kehoe, who he cites as a mentor, preparing for the trip. He still keeps in touch with Kehoe, noting “He helped me see the bigger picture.”

He also cites Troop 185 Scoutmaster Chuck Palm, who was also assistant chief of the Stratham Volunteer Fire Department, as a big influence at that point in his life. In addition to leading the troop, Palm started an Explorer Post at the Stratham Fire Department, which Emanuel joined. Palm, a banker by trade, introduced him to the fire service he would come to love, but there was more. “I began to understand how to think and work with people from watching him,” he said. “Those were fundamental lessons that I still rely on today.”

He credits Palm with teaching him emergency preparedness and life-saving skills as well as communicating well and public speaking, “all the things that were building me before I knew they were building me,” he said.

“My Eagle Project was a highlight for me,” Emanuel said. “In 1985 and 1986, we built one of the first trails around Stratham Hill Park.”

He said it was a one-mile connector trail with a combination of fitness and ecology stations. It took about 600 hours to complete with 50 to 80 volunteers over a six-month period. He spearheaded the project, and worked with the town’s board of selectmen and park commission to plan the site and drainage. The Scouts manned an excavator and bulldozer, on loan from Jackson & Son, to make the trail big enough to accommodate a fire truck and the forestry truck. Doug Scamman loaned them a tractor and Terry Bryan loaned them a Kubota. Emanuel said Wentworth Lumber donated all the wood and hardware for the stations.
“It was a significant undertaking,” he said. “And a neat experience.”

Since then, two Eagle Scouts have worked on it to redo the signage, Emanuel said of the trail, which remains close to his heart. He and his wife got engaged at the Stratham Fire Tower there.

Emanuel was very active with the Order of the Arrow, Scouting’s national honor society, and was a lodge chief. He interacted with Scouts and Scoutmasters all over the state to plan activities, work weekends at the camps and service projects. One of his advisers in this program, Rick Mason, who was one of the chiefs of the Portsmouth Fire Department and spent his career in the fire service, also became a mentor to Emanuel in Scouting and his career.

His experience in the Explorer Post helped prepare him to pursue a career in fire service the minute he got to the UNH campus.

“In the fall of 1990, I came to the Durham Fire Department said, ‘What can I do?’ And they said, ‘Nothing, you have to be a second-semester freshman. We don’t hire first-semester freshmen,’” he said. “I came back in January as a second-semester freshman, and that spring, they hired me as a part-time call firefighter here.”

He served as a student firefighter from 1991 to 1997 when he graduated with two degrees, Business Administration and Civil Engineering.

“That fall. I came to work as a career firefighter here,” he said. “And I haven’t left yet.”

He would later earn a master’s degree in Public Administration in 2014 at UNH. “I have a lot of pride growing up next door and working with this organization since the early ‘90s,” he said.

Emanuel has served as Stratham’s Town and School Moderator since 2004, as Stratham Memorial Day Parade Marshal since 2000, and as a member of the Exeter Brass Brand since 1997. He now serves as Stratham Troop 185’s Scoutmaster.

“We’re all in the troop right now,” he said of his children who are 12, 14 and 16 who all crossed over after completing Cub Scouts. He said his 16-year-old is also involved in the Explorer Post at the Epping Fire Department, and will attend Explorer Academy again this year and go to the State Fire Academy for a week.

He thinks one of the important aspects of Scouting at the troop level is it is completely Scout-led.

“The Scouts pick what they’re going to do and how they’re going to do it, and the whole model is built around failure,” he said. “Young adults between 12 and 18 don’t always make the best decisions, or maybe don’t always lay out all the plans, or don’t communicate as effectively as they could. As adult leaders, we nurture the failures and look at continuous quality improvement and what they can do next time that would be different. They learn planning and preparation pays off.”

He said this all carries through to training firefighters. As a manager, an instructor, a writer and featured speaker, Emanuel has been a leading voice in the development of a wholistic safety-based culture in fire service.

He received the District Service Award in 2023, the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award in 2023 and the Silver Beaver Award for outstanding service to the Daniel Webster Council in 2024.

He said the awards remind him of the importance of rewarding his team members.

“It touches me here again, because it just reminds me that anytime we recognize someone for their hard work, they stand up straighter. They’re proud,” he said. “Whether it’s in business or in a community, it’s important to recognize the people that are contributing and to encourage them to help fuel the fire and keep building community.”

Whether it’s a spoken thank you, a formal letter of commendation or an award, he said, “We all want impact. It’s a fundamental right.”

“I’m trying to help bring our youth along to be better community members and civic leaders that can perform,” he said, noting technology and a changing world are changing communities. “Some of the basic founding principles of Scouting don’t carry through the whole community anymore. Some might make fun of somebody for wearing a Scout uniform or being involved in Scouting. When we talk about expectations here at the fire department, I say if you’re trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent, you probably have things covered.”

He touched on the divisiveness prevalent in society these days.

“It’s all applicable in public service and in leadership and being a good person, how to get the best out of somebody,” he said.

He said Scouting takes a tack that can serve a person throughout life.

“In Scouting, and especially training adult leaders, we need to build win-win relationships,” Emanuel said. “That transcends Scouting, service, community, church and business. If you can build positive relationships to get the mutual benefit for both parties. I am asking, ‘are you bringing the best you to the table?’ And that’s what we do with the Scouting program. I have the same conversation at home as I do at work.”