乔·古德（Jo C. Goode）
The Herald News, Fall River, Mass.
(MCT)
Jan. 31—FALL RIVER — As his distinguished 36-year career wound down on Friday, Fall River Fire Chief John Lynch reflected on the last nearly four decades, ending an interview with a version of his trademark quote.
“I’m leaving the greatest department on the planet,” said Lynch, who at age 65 is required to take retirement. “‘With no reservations, and I’m sure it’s going to continue to be the best department on the planet.”
林奇说：“似乎直到昨天才完成了我的第一个任务。”
Lynch, unlike a lot of his fire chief friends, didn’t dream of a life as a firefighter.
In fact, the Fall River native who grew up in the city’s the former Hillside Manor, now known as Father Diaferio Village, started out in a completely different career.
“ 22岁时，我正在抚养一个家庭并从事三个工作。一份工作是在学校部门工作，是为身体残疾儿童的老师助手。”林奇说。
He admits the job working with disabled kids was “his second favorite” behind firefighting, but it didn’t pay.
然后他最好的朋友告诉他，在B.M.C.进行了火灾考试。Durfee高中，他应该尝试一下。
“当时是10美元。我接受了，我得分很好，我得到了这封信，这很棒。我看到了薪水，这就像一个启示。”林奇说。
It was a tough discipline, said Lynch, and something totally new.
“But I knew from the first day that I could be good at this and it gave me a passion. I developed that love of firefighting, I wasn’t born with it like a lot of chiefs that I deal with all the time,” said Lynch.
Over the years, Lynch immersed himself with everything fire service related — continuing courses at the fire academy, serving on the fire department’s haz-mat, rescue, dive teams and the honor guard.
林奇说：“与消防部门有关的任何事情，我都参与其中。”
他在队伍中晋升，并于2016年11月在前市长杰西尔·科雷亚二世（Jasiel Correia II）宣誓就职。
At his swearing in, Lynch, ever the effusive speaker, had this to say:
林奇说：“我的热情，对这个部门和奉献精神的热爱已经31年没有减弱。”“Every morning I get up and say the same thing, ‘I can’t wait to go to work.’ Every night when I go to bed and I say my prayers … I thank God for giving me the best job in the world and to keep everybody safe.”
188金博网网址多少这位负责人说，自从他成为新兵以来，消防已经走了很长一段路。
林奇说，当他第一次加入福尔河消防局时，他被签了头盔。
He pulled out an old, soot encrusted helmet that really resembles nothing more than a hard hat worn at a construction site. He compared it to the more advanced head gear worn by firefighters today.
“Remember Globe Mills? The word would get out that they had fire boots. You’d go down there and hopefully they had your size,” said Lynch.
But they were too short, said Lynch, and sometimes when fighting fires, embers would fall into the top of a firefighter’s boot and burn them.
林奇说：“那将永远不会发生。”
Firefighters had to buy their own jacket and boots, a practice that remained until Lynch became chief and changed the policy so that the city funds firefighters’ turnout gear.
Under his watch, the city purchased washers and dryers to clean their turnout gear, coated in carcinogenic material after a fire.
林奇还记得消防员跳上火钻机的后座的日子，在仪器后面只有一条皮带，而设备朝着火灾驶向火。
林奇（Lynch）与政府合作取代了消防部门老龄舰队的大部分地区，耗资近500万美元，通过福尔河社区发展局。
Lynch said that effort to upgrade trucks for the department continues.
林奇说，他无法完成他五年来打算做的一切。
但是，在担任消防队长的任期期间，他已经有一些举措和目标可以将其带入部门，例如努力创建一个更加多样化的部门。
例如，他引进了有史以来的第一位女消防员斯蒂芬妮·马其多（Stephanie Macedo）。
“She’s really turned out to be quite outstanding,” he said.
林奇说，他总是鼓励年轻的消防员将职业生涯提升到一个新的水平，并参加考试以提升队伍。
林奇说：“我总是试图鼓励年轻人，我看到的人会在消防部门有所作为。”“其他人，我告诉他们不要感到舒适 - 加强它。”
作为消防队长，林奇（Lynch）始终具有与民选官员相处的不可思议的能力，尽管该市在过去五年中经历了一些重大的政治和领导力动荡。
Still, he has some advice for present and future city leaders: to anticipate and plan for tough fiscal times, a situation that is not new to Fall River.
Back in 2013 and 2014, the expiration of millions of dollars in SAFER grants threatened major layoffs, and in 2009, during 9C cuts under Mayor Bob Correia, both the fire and police departments were decimated.
And when Lynch came on board as chief, the department was suffering with an outdated and dangerous fleet.
“Anticipate this stuff,” said Lynch. “Everything gets old at the same time. If you keep a regular schedule, which most departments do, you don’t have to go through that crisis. Put that in the budget every year, same thing with the fire stations. Maintain staffing levels, maintain the apparatus and keep our stations up.”
Lynch is looking forward to retirement, and jokes that he’ll walk more and revisit some of the hobbies he once enjoyed.
由于库维德（Covid），必须推迟到爱尔兰的家庭聚会之旅，他希望这可以在五月发生。
“但是离开将是苦乐参半。我将永远在这里心中，并担心男人和女人的安全。”林奇说。“即使我将不再成为领导者，甚至是部门的一部分，我仍然会担心所有仍在这里的朋友。”
林奇（Lynch）在工作的最后一天是自年轻的消防员开始的星期五，36年零一天。
副消防局长罗杰·圣马丁（Roger St. Martin）将接管in绳。
乔·古德（Jo C. Goode）可能会到达jgoode@heraldnews.com. Support local journalism and subscribe to The Herald News today!
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