JAMES VIGNONE
WESTFIELD – The city’s firefighting force will be back to full strength soon after the Fire Commission acted at their Tuesday meeting to appoint three new paramedic qualified firefighters.
“We’ll be at full complement once we get these people through the door,” said Fire Chief Mary Regan. “It’ll take about a month.”
The City Hall meeting room was packed with firefighters as the commissioners interviewed three candidates for the three openings which, Regan said, were created by retirements.
The applicants were hired in the order they were presented on the civil service list and the first candidate interviewed, Christopher Goshea, is an Easthampton native currently living in the Millers Falls section of Montague.
CHRISTOPHER SCHMALL
Goshea said that fire service is “a field I’m very passionate about” and said that in his nine years of service with call and career fire departments “I’ve tried to expand my knowledge as best I can, taking various courses, trying to advance my education and professionalism.”
He said that a firefighter has to be “a real good team player” because “it’s not a job you can do all by yourself.”
Working as a firefighter, he said, is “one of those things that either you like it or you hate it. I like it.”
Christopher Schmall said that he has lived in Franklin all his life and said “I’ve always wanted to be a firefighter.”
“My whole life I looked up to my uncle … a Watertown firefighter” he said and added “I’ve always looked up to the heroism of the professional acts he’s always had, the lessons that he’s taught me.”
He said he has been working for a private ambulance company in Somerville for five years as a basic EMT but has recently become certified as a paramedic.
Schmall said that he also works as a fine finish carpenter serving as a project manager for “a high end construction company” in Newton and said that his is very organized, enthusiastic and dedicated to his job.
He said that becoming a firefighter is a “lifelong dream” and said “I would take pride and honor (in) being a firefighter in the city. I would also put myself out there to do community service. It’s something I’ve always done.”
The last candidate interviewed was James Vignone, a Milford resident who said that he grew up around the fire department there where his father was a firefighter.
“For as long as I can remember, this is all I’ve wanted to do” he said.
CHRISTOPHER GOSHEA
He said that he believes a good firefighter needs to be “quick thinking, compassionate, intelligent and, I would say, able to work as a team.”
Vignone said that he was able to see the job “from the other side” when, while he was engaged in his paramedic training, his grandfather was stricken during a family gathering and he was able to experience the relief which comes when calm and professional firefighters respond to help during an emergency.
All three of the candidates said that they understood the requirement that the city’s firefighters live no more than ten miles from the city’s borders and all three said that they have taken steps to satisfy that requirement if hired.
After an executive session to consider the applicants, the commissions resumed open session and voted unanimously on a series of motions to appoint all three candidates, in the order interviewed.
The appointments are conditional on the successful completion of a number of requirements, which include a medical physical exam, a hearing test, a CORI check and a physical agility test. In addition, the new firefighters will have to complete the state’s fire academy program within one year.
Regan said that the fire academy requirement deadline will be waived, if necessary, as spaces at the academy are in high demand and the new firefighters may not be assigned a slot in the academy within the required one-year time frame.
“I thought the candidates were strong and obviously very passionate about the fire service” she said.
