On behalf of Fire Chief Gaboriault, the Essex Junction Fire Department is proud to announce the following promotions and retirements effective 01/01/2020:

Retirements:

-Second Assistant Chief Timothy Wear will be retiring

-In the fall of 2020, Fire Police Robert Trudo retired from the Department after close to 50 years of service

Promotions:

-Captain James Kellogg to the rank of Second Assistant Chief

-Lieutenant Daniel Macaig to the rank of Captain

-Engineer Daniel Mullin to the rank of Lieutenant

Early in 2020, Chief Wear announced to the Department that he would be retiring at the end of the year after 40 years in the fire service.

Chief Wear began his fire service career in 1980 in his hometown of Canaan, New York following in his father and grandfather’s footsteps. In early adulthood, he moved to Richmond, Vermont in order to begin a career with General Dynamics. He served with the Richmond Fire Department for several years, rising to the rank of Captain. Chief Wear next moved to the Town of Colchester, where he served with the Colchester Center Volunteer Fire Company, rising to the rank of Assistant Chief.

In 1997, he joined the Essex Junction Fire Department where he has served continuously since. Tim served as a Lieutenant from 2001-2004, Captain from 2004-2017 and Second Assistant Chief from 2017-2020. While at EJFD, he earned several awards including the Essex Rotary “Service Above Self” award in 2019, Rookie of the Year in 1998, Member of the Year in 2009, Firefighter of the Year in 1999 and 2003 and Officer of the Year in 2010, 2014 and 2016.

Chief Wear has truly been an inspiration to every single member who has come through the doors at EJFD. He has always maintained an extreme level of dedication to the success of the department, always being in the top five responding members each year in regards to fire calls. As an example of this, since EJFD began using Firehouse Reporting Software in 2004, Chief Wear has responded to 2,721 emergency calls for service. He was also an EMT with the department, serving on EJFD First Response for many years and responding to many EMS calls. It was well known that on nearly every Monday night throughout the entire year, Tim could be found at Monday night training sessions. He rarely missed training, generally only if he was ill or on vacation.

The retirement of Chief Wear will undoubtedly leave a void in the EJFD and big shoes to fill. We will miss him around the firehouse, always pushing the members toward excellence and cracking the occasional joke, even if sometimes we can’t tell if he is serious or not.

`Chief, it has been an honor for every single one of the members of this department, past and present, to serve under your leadership. We wish you well in retirement and hope you enjoy not having a pager on for the first time in 40 years!

-Robert “Bob” Trudo announced his retirement from EJFD in September of 2020.

Bob lived in the Village of Essex Junction for a majority of his life, raising his family here. Bob also spent many years working for Chittenden Bank as well as in Real Estate.

Bob served EJFD for approximately 52 years, rising to the rank of Captain. Bob is proudly one of the longest serving members of Essex Junction Fire. Firefighting has been a family tradition in the Trudo family, with Bob’s son Bruce currently serving on the department (and has been for over 45 years), Bob’s son Brian serving in the 1980s, as well as Bob’s grandsons Kyle and Josh and grand daughter in-law Sarah.

Bob responded to a high volume of emergency calls each year, serving in the role of Fire Police for roughly the past 30 years. Bob took great pride in ensuring our fire scenes were safe for our members operating on the scene as well as the public traveling through the area. Whether it was 0 degrees and snowing or 98 degrees and sunny, Bob would always be there to answer the call and ensure traffic control duties were taken care of. When not directing traffic on a scene, Bob could be found at the firehouse sweeping the bay floor or cleaning apparatus, always taking great pride in the equipment. Bob also made sure to never miss an association meeting, also taking pride in the association and its mission to support the department.

Bob, we will miss you around the firehouse and hope you enjoy a much deserved retirement!