PETERSHAM – The man who served the last several years as second-in-command for the Petersham Fire Department has been tapped to succeed longtime Chief Dana Robinson.

“I first got on the department, I believe it was in ‘86,” new Chief Bob Legare told the Athol Daily News, “and I worked my way up through captain and then up to assistant chief and deputy.”

Legare was tapped to take the reins of the department at a recent Selectboard meeting. He said public service in the Town of Petersham has been a family tradition.

“My grandfather was on the department before, but when you grow up in Petersham you kind of help out wherever you can,” he said. “My uncle was the police chief and then my father was a police chief. We’ve always done those types of jobs. I’ve also worked as a corporal on the police department.”

Legare also serves as full-time building inspector for the Town of Athol, as well as serving as backup inspector for several surrounding towns. He said responsibilities for the two positions – fire chief and building inspector – sometimes overlap.

“When buildings are built, it goes underneath the building code; maintenance code is under the fire department,” Legare said. “So they’re kind of the same things we’d be looking at, just at different times. So having a good understanding of all the codes will help with (the chief’s) position.”

Legare said one of his top priorities as new chief will be staffing, adding that many departments are struggling to find people.

“We’re going to work on trying to recruit some new members,” he said. “Hopefully we’ll get some members from other communities who are on those fire departments to join us as well, so that we’re working more together.”

Legare also hopes to employ new technologies to, in his words, “streamline some things.”

“It’s tough with small departments on a limited budget,” said the new chief. “That’s going to be the biggest struggle. Pagers are getting more expensive now, so there are new systems that will call out directly to your phone. It’s some of these things we need to deal with right off the bat to try and make some changes. It’ll eventually save time and improve our response.”

Legare said he had no qualms stepping into a position that had been held for 35 years by the well-liked Robinson, who also serves as the town’s treasurer.

“Change is always kind of hard,” he said, “but I’ve been his assistant for quite a few years. He’s offered to help me with whatever he can in making the transition. So I see it going fairly smoothly with all the support I have from the area chiefs and from him.”

Legare’s far from the only member of the family working with the Petersham Fire Department. At the same Selectboard meeting where he was named the new chief, his brother Shawn was tapped to become deputy fire chief. In addition, his sister-in-law Becky is the department’s captain and training officer and his son Josiah is also a member of the department. The new chief’s older brother is a former member of the department.

He said having several family members working beside him should make his new job easier.

“They’ve also been on the department for a good number of years, so it’ll help setting up some of the new programs we have to look at.”

Legare said he was obviously pleased with the decision of the Selectboard.

“It was nice to be asked,” he concluded. “I look forward to serving in the position and dealing with the challenges.”

Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@gmail.com.

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