There will be familiar faces in the new leadership at the Timmins Fire Department.
Berny Stansa is the new fire chief and Scott Atkinson is the new deputy fire chief. Both of the appointments were approved by Timmins council at its Sept. 13 meeting.
In August, current fire chief Tom Laughren announced his retirement. It's effective Oct. 31, 2022. Stansa and Atkinson's new roles are effective Nov. 1.
Stansa started with the fire department as a volunteer in Schumacher in the early 1990s before being hired as a fulltime firefighter, said Laughren.
Stansa has been serving as the acting deputy chief since his predecessor Ellard Beaven retired from the local department earlier this year.
“I think he has a lot of experience when you can relate that to different operations within the fire service — prevention, training, suppression, he was a volunteer — he’s worked hand-in-hand with myself over the past three years. So he has a very good understanding of the fire department and its working and I think he’ll bring not only stability to all those organizations and oversight, but he’ll also bring some new ideas,” said Laughren.
Atkinson is currently a lieutenant with the fire service. He's been a part of the firefighter association and understands the operations of the volunteer system, said Laughren.
“(He's a) good firefighter, been a good lieutenant, ready to make the next move,” he said.
In the next week, Stansa will start to transition and shadow Laughren. Atkinson's transition will start a couple weeks after that.
