Leadership

ME Town Selects Fifth Fire Chief Since 1988

Oct. 17, 2019

Mark A. Dupuis will be sworn in next week as chief of the Wells Fire Department, taking over for the late Wayne Vetre, who died of lung cancer in July.

By Gillian Graham

Source Portland Press Herald, Maine

The town of Wells will swear in its fifth full-time fire chief next week.

Mark A. Dupuis was chosen from a pool of 17 applicants to succeed Chief Wayne Vetre, who died of lung cancer in July. Dupuis will be sworn-in during a ceremony at 9:30 a.m. Oct. 21.

“The Town of Wells is quite fortunate to have had the opportunity to bring such a well-received and dedicated individual into its community,” Town Manager Jon Carter said. “We look forward to all Chief Dupuis will do for our town.”

Dupuis retired last year as assistant fire chief in Rochester, NH, where the fire department has 38 firefighters and officers and a $4.1 million budget. He joined the Rochester Fire Department in 1988 and worked his way up through the ranks, serving as a lieutenant and fire marshal before becoming assistant chief in 2011.

In Wells, Dupuis will oversee a department of nine full-time firefighters and up to 20 call firefighters. His annual salary will be $92,000.

Dupuis holds a bachelor’s degree in fire and emergency management and earned an executive fire officer’s certificate from the National Fire Academy.

He will be the town’s fifth full-time chief since the Wells Fire Department consolidated under a singe chief in 1988.

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