The Towns of Newmarket and Aurora have a new fire chief as Rocco Volpe is stepping into the role for Central York Fire Services.
Volpe began serving as deputy fire chief in 2015 and has been in the acting chief position since December. He has also led the operations and support service divisions and has served as community emergency management co-ordinator alternate.
“I’d like to thank Chief Rocco Volpe on the strong leadership he’s provided to the department over the past nine years as deputy chief and particularly this past year as acting chief,” Newmarket Mayor John Taylor said in a Sept. 16 news release. “I look forward to seeing his continued leadership and innovation as he moves forward as our new fire chief.”
“We are proud of the very high level of service CYFS provides our community, and I know Chief Volpe will work exceptionally hard to continue to keep our residents safe,” Aurora Mayor Tom Mrakas said.
Volpe is taking over the role from former fire chief Ian Laing, who passed away at age 71 Nov. 30. He has served in an acting chief capacity since then,
The Town of Newmarket co-ordinated a competitive internal/external recruitment process to fill the role, the municipality said.
The new fire chief said he is excited to bring his background and vision to the fire department. Volpe has 25 years of experience in fire service, starting as a firefighter and then a training officer.
“It’s an honour to serve my community and I look forward to doing so alongside staff and with the support of our joint council committee and Newmarket and Aurora councils,” Volpe said.
Volpe also has a master's certificate in municipal leadership from York University, diplomas in fire service administration and fire service leadership from Dalhousie University and an executive chief fire officer designation from the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs, among other titles.
He will be the third fire chief since the amalgamation of the Aurora and Newmarket fire services in 2002.
You can meet the newly named fire chief at the Central York Fire Services annual open house Sept. 21 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., which will be at the station headquarters at Station 4-5 in Aurora, 300 Earl Stewart Dr.
