Thornhill’s new fire chief, appointed by the regional district board at its June meeting, like his predecessor spent almost all of his firefighting career here.
Rick Boehm, Thornhill’s previous deputy fire chief, took over the new position June 29 after longtime fire chief Wes Patterson left for a position in Port Alberni.
“I knew after the board meeting late that night,” he said.
It was a unanimous decision by the Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine board, after the Thornhill Volunteer Firefighters’ Association put its recommendation to the board.
Boehm spent 10 years volunteering with the department, then left the area for nine years and worked as an emergency vehicle technician mechanic for what was formerly called ProFire Emergency Equipment (now SafeTech) and travelled the Yukon, Northwest Territories and all around B.C. doing maintenance on fire trucks.
The deputy fire chief job came up here and he took it and it’s been just about three years in that role for him.
In addition to being fire chief now, Boehm is also employed in an administrative position as the emergency and fire services coordinator.
The only big tasks coming up on the job in the upcoming future are replacing the fire trucks.
“We will probably select a vendor here in two or three months with a delivery date within a year,” said Boehm.
Three fire trucks need to be replaced and the ladder truck too.