RUTLAND — In an early morning, pandemic-friendly ceremony Tuesday, the Rutland City Fire Department confirmed a permanent chief.
Bill Lovett, the longest-serving full-time member of the department, took on the role temporarily in February, when city officials dismissed then-chief James Larsen for allegedly bullying and intimidating crew members.
Rutland Mayor David Allaire nominated Lovett at a Board of Aldermen meeting last month.
“In his many months serving as your interim fire chief, Billy has shown the leadership, he’s shown the desire, and he shows the temperament to successfully become the permanent fire chief for the city of Rutland,” Allaire told the board.
Board members unanimously approved Lovett’s contract at a meeting Monday night.
“I want you to all know that Bill has my full trust and my full respect,” Allaire said. “He has shown on a couple of occasions, through lengthy periods of interim leadership, that he can get the job done.”
Since February, Lovett has made efforts to move the department forward. About a dozen firefighters and officers, some with decades of experience, left the department in 2019, when Larsen was chief. Lovett has had to build back trust and reestablish community connections.
“It’s been an interesting 10 months,” he said. “It was a tough time for the department, coming in to try to gather everybody and get everybody focused again.”
Lovett’s father was a Rutland City firefighter for 40 years, and though Lovett first thought of attending school to study wildlife biology, he said firefighting became ingrained in him in the years he watched his father.
As a kid, he’d hear the fire station’s whistle go off, calling his father in for service. His family would act quickly — someone would grab his dad’s coat, and his mom would often head outside to warm up the car.
“It was very much kind of a subliminal training,” he said.
Now, those traditions are being passed on to his 11-year-old son, who pinned Lovett’s badge at Tuesday’s ceremony.
Lovett joined the department in 1981, overlapping with his father for several years. When his father died, firefighters lined up to help serve food at his service.
“They were always there,” Lovett said. “I mean, when somebody’s child is born, at least half the shift is in the waiting room.”
Lovett said he has close relationships with the crew — something that helped smooth the transition to his leadership. That camaraderie, he said, is the most cherished part of the job.
“For all of my career, I’ve had this extended family of 37 — now it’s down to 27,” he said. “When something needs to be done, everybody here chips in.”
