Today is an emotional day as I draft my final Scarborough Leader article as your fire chief. After nearly 46 years of total service to the department, including over 40 years as the Town’s Emergency Management director, and more than 20 years as fire chief, the time is right to retire. To be trusted with the immense responsibility of leading this organization has truly been one of the highest honors of my life.

I joined the fire department on my 16th birthday in 1976, as soon as I was legally able to do so. I served on the student rescue while in high school, and rose through each of the ranks in our organization before being appointed fire chief on Sept. 15, 2001. That was just three days after the horrific 9/11 terrorist attacks on our country. My service to the department follows in the footsteps of my grandfather and cousins. My son, Michael, represents the fourth generation of our family to serve the department, something our family is very proud of.

As I reflect on my career as your fire chief, I realize that my tenure is likely the end of an era when community volunteers and call members rose through the ranks to lead this organization. My predecessors and I have had the unique opportunity to personally know and learn from the many giants of our community that had the presence to build the foundation of the department that continues to proudly serve the citizens of Scarborough today. People like my immediate predecessor, retired Chief Robert Carson, a progressive visionary who made an indelible mark on the department’s history during his 17-years as fire chief, as did former Chiefs Eldred Harmon and John Harmon, Dr. Phil Haigis, Captains Warner Garland, Grant Worthing, Wendell Whitten, Bruce Bell, Clayt Skillins, and dozens of others far too numerous to name. I’ve also been blessed to have a number of mentors from other organizations that helped mold me into the leader I’ve become. They include leaders and close friends like Chiefs Phil McGouldrick, Byron Rogers, Bob Lefebvre, Joe Thomas, Sherm Lahaie, and many others. Throughout my career I have strived to learn from all of them, past and present, with the goal of leaving our organization stronger and better than when I started. I hope history will judge me successful in those efforts.

I have a number of people I want and need to thank. I will start with Town Manager Tom Hall who has been extremely supportive and great to work for over the past 13 years. I’ve been blessed to work as a member of the Town’s senior staff with a number of talented and dedicated department heads over the years. Thank you to all of them for the cooperative way they all worked together to best serve the citizens of Scarborough.

I would be remiss if I didn’t thank recently retired Police Chief Robbie Moulton. Robbie and I are local Scarborough boys from families with deep roots in the community who grew up together, attended high school together, and joined our respective departments where we each served for nearly 45 years. For the past 20 years we had the pleasure of working with each other on a daily basis in our roles as leaders in this community we love. We are both very proud of the new public safety facility that we now call home. We are confident it will serve the needs of our departments and our town for many decades to come. Chief Moulton’s influence, sage advice, and friendship, both personal and professional, has always been something I’ve treasured, and I wish him a long, happy, and healthy retirement.

Certainly, I want to thank my wife, Malvina, my son, Michael and his wife, Jessica, my parents, and the rest of my family for their unconditional love and support over the years. I was absent or late to many special events, holidays, and missed dinners, but they always understood the public’s safety came first, and supported me when I needed to be away.

Thank you to the citizens of Scarborough. You have always supported our department during the budget process, referendum votes on replacing apparatus, and the renovation and expansion of our stations. There has rarely been a week when I didn’t receive a nice card, call, or letter from a citizen or visitor praising the work of our personnel for their helpfulness or the excellent patient care they provided to a family member. They were all very much appreciated and passed along to those that were involved in that particular call.

Thank you to all the great men and women of our department that I have had the privilege of working with over these many years. No single chief or individual is solely responsible for the success of an organization like ours. It is truly a team effort and I am proud of what a phenomenal team we have built together.

I’ve been blessed to have great senior staff to help me guide this organization. For many of those years that included Deputy Chiefs Glen Deering and Tony Attardo before their own retirements. They were both hometown boys who rose through the ranks and shared the unique history of our department’s foundation. Their help, expertise, and many years of loyalty and friendship is very much appreciated. More recently Deputy Chiefs Jerry LaMoria and Rich Kindelan have brought a whole new level of knowledge, skills, and abilities to these crucial roles. Their outside perspectives, and in particular Jerry’s previous experience in a much larger county department in Maryland, has helped broaden our department’s vision and efforts to continually evolve to meet today’s challenges.

I couldn’t be more pleased that Town Manager Hall has selected Deputy Chief Rich Kindelan to assume the role of fire chief and EMA director. Rich is a seasoned veteran who brings a combination of US Air Force, fire, and EMS experiences from several different departments around our state. He is the type of leader that has earned the respect of his crews and peers, and I am confident he will be a fantastic fire chief, and take our department to the next level.

During my career I’ve had the pleasure of working with literally hundreds of individuals who have all, in their own way, contributed to our success. Thank you all for your sacrifices, hard work, and dedication to serving our community. I wish Chief Kindelan, the members of our department, and the citizens of Scarborough the very best, and thank you for the honor and privilege of serving as your fire chief for these past 20+ years.

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