Greg Stetson is a full time firefighter for the City of Franklin, New Hampshire, and a 2003 graduate of Proctor Academy.

“To me I think it’s important to be able to bridge the gap between the Proctor Academy bubble and the Franklin bubble.”

Continuously active since 1830, the Franklin Fire Department plays a vital role in the Lakes Region. Last year Franklin firefighters answered a total of 1,982 calls — more than 3oo of which were fire related.

Due to the nature of their work, firefighters, like Stetson, are uniquely situated to peer into the lives of everyone in the community. Despite seeing his share of personal tragedies and a significant rise in overdoses in his nine years on the job, Stetson remains thoughtful and caring when it comes to the challenges facing Franklin.

“The town needs to see the drug users not as criminals but as people with a disease. I look at our country, and our world, and our communities, and there are always a lot of similarities among everybody if only we can break down the barriers.”

When we asked Stetson his thoughts of residents of Franklin who are resistant or skeptical of the changes and revitalization efforts that are underway, he explained,

“I think with anything there are always naysayers. Even after something becomes successful, there are those people who still question things. That’s normal. But I think we have to be open to anything that’s going to rejuvenate the downtown economy.”

(For more Telling True Stories: Franklin, New Hampshire visit: medium.com/urban-renewal-brings-new-hope-to-franklin-nh)