NAHANT — The Board of Selectmen voted unanimously to appoint six new call firefighters to the Fire Department.
Call firefighters are summoned to assist as needed. Joseph Amaro Jr., Matthew Donaher, Matthew Frary, Jamie O’Connell, Eric Spector, and Jeffrey Worman were all appointed to join the town’s group of part-time firefighters.
“I commend Chief (Austin) Antrim and his efforts to rebuild the call fire roster, because we’ve been at historically low numbers for a couple years,” Town Administrator Tony Barletta said. “All are local, Lynn, Swampscott, Nahant, Peabody… it’s important for us to have people who are able to respond to calls in a quick fashion.”
Antrim also expressed his excitement about the new recruits. With two already fully trained, the remaining four will be starting the Volunteer Fire Academy in October.
However, Antrim lamented that this method of staffing does have its disadvantages.
“We’re reliant on people who are off-duty and part-time to come for our emergency incidents,” Antrim said. “More and more departments are having to go all-career or find some alternative staffing models… We’re trying to keep it going.”
The selectmen also voted unanimously to appoint Michael Chakoutis as a new full-time police officer.
