By Mark Squibb | Vol. 12 No. 26 (December 18, 2019)
Witless Bay Mayor Derm Moran said that a growing regional population and increased work load means the Town has to consider upgrading the position of regional fire chief from a volunteer to a paid position.
“In Mobile, I can count six or seven new houses as you go along the main highway, and that’s only in the last two years. For a small community, that’s quite a substantial increase,” said Moran.
And that’s just some of the growth in a region that is fairly close to St. John’s but still far enough away to need its own first responders in the case of an emergency.
“What has to happen now, and it wasn’t in the budget or anything like that, but we will be doing the groundwork (to hire a paid fire chief),” said Moran.”That will include contacting the communities that are affected by it, naturally, from the Town of Bay Bulls up to the Bauline area, including Mobile and Tors Cove, etcetera. So, everybody needs to understand what direction we’re going in— and why the need that we’re looking for a fire chief.”
Discussions on the subject began when current volunteer fire chief Paul Evoy, who had served for the last couple of years, informed council earlier the fall that he would be stepping down due to work and family commitments.
“Paul was excellent. You couldn’t ask for any better,” said Moran. “They (the firefighters) are the type that don’t want to get into something unless they can give it everything they can and do justice to it.”
Moran said it has not yet been determined if the paid position of fire chief will be a full or part time job, and that discussions need to be held with the other municipalities about where to draw the revenue to pay the salary.
Moran said the hope is to secure a chief sooner rather than later, and he would like to secure a consulting company to help guide the town’s hiring process.
In the meanwhile, said the mayor, Evoy will help bridge the gap, and that even without a chief there will still be a reliable chain-of-command.
