With the turn of each new year, the Millville Volunteer Fire Company reinstates their fire line officers and administrative officers. This year, Walter Johnson was appointed as the department’s fire chief, overseeing the facility.
Walter Johnson is the new chief of the Millville Volunteer Fire Company.Johnson, who has been with the Millville Volunteer Fire Company for 17 years now, has held positions at the station that include rescue captain (2003), third assistant chief (2004) and deputy chief (2005). With the position of fire chief, he said, comes a lot of dedication.
“There’s a lot of responsibility and time involved,” Johnson said. “There are a lot of operational and administrative duties. You have to keep the firehouse straight.”
“We do a lot of public stuff, too,” Johnson added. “We’re doing a lot with the town of Ocean View and the town of Millville.”
Once selected for fire chief, Johnson had the task of appointing his staff, which includes positions such as deputy chief, assistant chiefs, and rescue, truck, and fire captains.
“I have five former chiefs on my staff,” Johnson said. “Even if I’m not here, it’s well-taken care of. They’ve been here and done this, so they know what to expect.”
This year’s deputy chief position was taken on by Eddie Hammond, who has been with Millville Fire Company for 23 years. Hammond served as the company’s fire chief in 1999, 2004 and 2005 and truck captain in 2006. He said he looks forward to the new year and new officers.
“Hopefully,” said Hammond, “all of us will be able to work together. That’s the biggest thing. We need to establish good relationships.”
“We’ve got a new staff now,” Hammond added. “[Johnson] added a couple new people and new officers. They’ll be getting some new experience, so down the line, they can move on up.” Hammond said he is optimistic of this year, given the amount of experience still on board.
“He’s got Doug Scott, who’s a past chief, and Clarke Droney and Guy Rickards as well. It’s good to have the experience there. Sometimes you need that. You need someone who will be level-headed, someone who’s been around it for a while and keep things moving,” Hammond said. “The guys who are coming up are in a learning experience for now. They’ve been around it long enough that they’ve got an idea of what’s going on, but it’s about getting the hands-on training. There’s nothing like the real thing.”
As for anticipations in the new year with his new top position, Johnson said it’s hard to know what to expect.
“It’s business as usual,” he said. “We have a lot of good ideas planned and a lot of stuff that we’re doing.” The fire company is putting the finishing touches on an expansion project in Clarksville that will help them reach a larger response area.
“We have a new sub-station, Station 2. Right past St. George’s Church on Omar [Road], it’s the first building on the right. It’s fully operational right now. We’re just trying to get the ins and outs of it done. We’re doing a lot of work out there getting it ready. We’re getting more and more people west of the firehouse.”
Hammond said that the substation is one of the fire company’s top priorities in the new year. “It will stay as it is right now,” he said. “Who knows? Years down the road, we might build something more there. We have a nice building there that we renovated. Right now, we have our tractor trailer, an engine and a utility truck there.”
The station will help accommodate the emergency commute through the area, especially with summertime traffic. “With the expansion of the new Millville town center, we wanted to get something more out in that area,” he added. “That was one of our concerns, to take care of that area, too.”
“We also want to figure out what we’re doing as far as the building here,” said Hammond, in regards to the current station along Route 26. “The goal is to construct a new building. We have a new building fund and we’re raising money for it. We’re just not sure where we want to put it yet.”
Johnson said that, though the company has its hands full, he looks forward to the year.
“I couldn’t ask for a better group of people to work with,” he said. “This is like my second home. The people I’ve met here are like my family. It’s a good core group of people.”