WELLFLEET – Richard Pauley Jr. is passing the baton after 11 years as chief of the city’s fire department, 25 total years as chief and a 40-year career in the fire service.
“25 years as fire chief is a lot,” he said Thursday in his office at the fire station. “We’ve done great things here. I’ve had great support from my staff, the taxpayers and the city. It’s time.”
Pauley wore a white polo shirt with the red and gold Wellfleet Fire Department logo and his title embroidered in gold on the front. Radio traffic was nonstop as he worked through a neat stack of paperwork. He had long been responsible for 22 employees, vehicles, equipment, budgeting – and worries.
“I love the Cape, I love Wellfleet, but we made plans years ago,” he said of his wife Pamela. They will spend summers in Maine and winters in Florida.
Pauley’s resignation comes at a time of change in the fire service in the Cape’s three most remote towns. Former Provincetown Fire Chief Michael Trovato resigned in early July. Trovato had been fire chief since 1991. Both departments, as well as the neighboring town of Truro, are grappling with the decreasing availability of volunteer or on-duty firefighters, a trend toward hiring more full-time firefighters, and a lack of housing that firefighters can afford.
“You realize you’ve done what you can,” Pauley said. “You try to leave the place better than you found it, and I know we’ve done that. It’s time for someone else to take it to the next level.”
Wellfleet Deputy Fire Chief Joseph Cappello will take over on September 1.
As a teenager he found his calling
Pauley participated in a volunteer firefighter program in Lunenburg during his high school years. He was 16.5 years old. Several of his close friends participated in this program.
“I knew immediately that this was what I wanted to do,” he said.
Six years after college, he was hired as a fire marshal and assistant fire chief in Laconia, New Hampshire. It was a dream come true.
Pauley’s office is just one door down from the dispatcher’s room. On Thursday, Pauley watched through his office window as Engine 95 and an ambulance, sirens blaring, took off to rush to a car crash on Route 6. It was a clear, sunny day before noon, but Pauley said any fire chief would tell you the same thing: They always worry about their employees.
“We have well-trained personnel. We have excellent people,” he said. “But you’re always worried about them, even on this Thursday morning call at 11:30 a.m. They’re on Route 6. Hopefully everyone is paying attention and no one gets hit.”
In 12 years the department has grown
Twelve years ago, Wellfleet couldn’t dispatch two vehicles at once. Pauley wanted to change that. The fire department grew from nine full-time firefighters, including the chief, to the current number of 22. Four teams of five work a shift. All employees are trained emergency medical technicians and 70% of them are paramedics.
Wellfleet has a population of about 4,300, but like Truro and Provincetown, the town experiences a large seasonal influx of visitors and part-time residents.
The best part of the job is seeing the department evolve and grow, Pauley said, thanks to taxpayer support, he added.
The shelves in his office are crammed with notebooks, manuals and storage boxes. A Barnstable County Mutual Aid manual sits next to a street directory. Three thick manuals of Massachusetts building codes take up space on his shelf. A comprehensive manual of the state’s fire codes shares space with an equipment resource manual.
Pauley manages an annual budget of $2.689 million, is a member of the Cape and Islands Fire Chief Association and served as interim city manager for 30 days last year.
“Those were the longest 30 days of my life,” he joked.
“He has spearheaded numerous improvements in the department, including upgrading equipment and streamlining the ambulance procurement process,” said John Wolf, chairman of the Wellfleet Selectboard. “He has maneuvered through the maze of the city’s difficult financial situation to keep the department operating at a high level.”
Three things he didn’t expect in his career
The housing issue is something Pauley never wanted to worry about in his career. The cost of housing firefighters impacts fire stations across the state and country, including Wellfleet, he said.
Pauley never imagined that he would have to purchase protective vests and helmets for his employees or that his employees would have to participate in active shooter training.
He also did not anticipate high costs for new fire engines, ambulances and equipment and the need to replace them as they reach their useful life. “We are in a completely new world,” he said.
Too many deadly fires
Firefighters, EMTs and paramedics are called to scenes where they are confronted with injured, dead and deadly fires. Pauley knew from the beginning what the job entailed. Still, the memories haunt him. One of the worst was a fire that killed two children and their mother on Christmas Eve in Manchester, New Hampshire.
Recognizing the trauma that such incidents can cause, for several years now there has been a push for emergency responders to speak to trained therapists to receive emotional and psychological support and better overall well-being.
“That’s what you have to do because the last thing we want to do is bring it home – and we do,” he said. “My wife can tell you that sometimes I’ve brought it home when I shouldn’t have.”
John Burke, Sandwich fire chief and president of the Cape and Islands Fire Chiefs Association, said for fire chiefs, “the phone is ringing and they have to make a decision.”
“I don’t think people understand how vigilant you have to be in these situations,” Burke said. Pauley has been a great asset to the association, he said.
“We wish him the best. He certainly deserves it,” Burke said.
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