It was a very special moment at Danville Fire Station 3 on Griffin Street Tuesday afternoon (Nov 29th) during the walk-out ceremony for retiring Fire Chief Don McMasters. After receiving congratulations from firefighters and chiefs he worked with for many years, a final call to Chief McMasters came over the dispatch, and then came the walk between saluting firefighters.
AUDIO: The last call on the pager, you know the dispatch, and then all the guys saluting, it was a little teary eyed. I’ll miss the brotherhood, the camaraderie, that is what I will miss the most, probably of the job. Walking through there after they’re wishing me luck over the intercom, and then walking through with all my brothers, it was a little emotional.
Aaron Marcott now moves up from captain to fire chief; and with McMasters’ retirement, there are now three replacements that need to be made. Marcott says the latest application period for firefighter testing brought about 29 people interested in becoming new Danville firefighters.
AUDIO: We’re getting ready to run a test in two weeks I believe, December 10th. And that’s set out by the Police and Fire Board. So we’re going to run those paces; get those results in. It’ll be about a month or two turnaround for that. For the promotions internal we have also a testing process that took place approximately a year ago. And so we’ll just replace those guys, as the Police and Fire Board sets out, based on the list and how they scored on those exams
(Left) Danville Police Chief Christopher Yates. (Right) Retiring Fire Chief Don McMasters.
Marcott will officially be sworn in as fire chief during next Tuesday’s (Dec 6th) Danville City Council meeting.
