Last modified: Wednesday, August 27, 2008 2:55 AM EDT MARK STOCKWELLMark Pare, former assistant fire chief in Providence, recently took over as Wrentham chief. From large city to modest town BY STEPHEN PETERSON SUN CHRONICLE STAFF WRENTHAM - It is a different state, a modern building instead of the vintage one he had worked out of for years, and the budget and staff are significantly less, but new Fire Chief Mark Pare says the day-to-day activities of any fire department are quite similar. Pare, 54, who had been assistant chief of administration for the Providence Fire Department from 2004 until May, took over the local fire department in June. "I like it a lot. Everything is going very, very well," Pare said. The town may not be on par with a big city, but is seeing its share of emergency calls, given the number of highways in the area and the outlet mall, the chief said. The most serious incident so far has been the double fatal car crash on Route 1 in July, in which two young women died. Pare said the accident was as bad as any he encountered in Providence. One of two assistant fire chiefs in Providence, Pare was second in command, serving as chief from January to May 2007. As an assistant, Pare oversaw the department's multi-million dollar budget and all other administrative functions, such as union/contract matters. Having moved up the ranks, from a firefighter starting in 1979 to lieutenant, captain, battalion chief, director of training and safety and finally assistant chief, Pare said his goal was to become a fire chief. After all, he has packed 28 years of firefighting experience in his career, including 19 in leadership roles. However, he said Providence Fire Chief George Farrell is younger than he is and unlikely to retire soon. "It was time to retire. I was just looking for something else, a different challenge," Pare said. A plus the chief sees with the smaller department is that he is able to have a more hands-on role. Controversial pick Pare's selection by selectmen had been controversial, with many residents and firefighters upset that former acting fire chief and longtime Deputy Chief Jay McMorrow was passed over in a 3-2 vote. However, things have smoothed since, and Pare says he relies heavily on McMorrow for assistance. "Chief Pare seems to be doing a very good job. He acclimated well to the department and the community, and he has developed a very good working relationship with the board of selectmen," said Selectman Edward Goddard, the board's liaison to the fire department and the only remaining selectman who voted for McMorrow. "The chief keeps me well informed what is going on in the department, and he seems to have a very clear vision on how he wants to run the department." Selectmen Chairwoman Mary Dunn and John Zizza had pointed to Pare's experience with budgets and training when they voted for him. "I thought it may be difficult making a transition from a large city to a much smaller town, but Chief Pare has handled the change very smoothly," Town Administrator Jack McFeeley said. "He is proving himself to be a tremendous asset to our town. He is coming up with some new, fresh ideas." So far, Pare said he hasn't implemented any significant changes. "You are limited with staff. You don't have many options with just four people on duty" per shift, he said, adding of Wrentham firefighters, "I think they do a remarkably good job for what they have. Their EMS skills are second to none." An EMT himself, Pare knows the importance of such skills. His 83-year-old father was saved 20 years ago by such assistance while suffering a heart attack. Budget constraints, Pare acknowledges, pose his biggest challenge, but he said they go with the job. He said that because of cutbacks in Providence at one time, he was juggling three jobs: training officer, safety officer and investigative officer for internal affairs. He said he would like to reinvigorate the call firefighting program here. Pare calls the new public safety building "absolutely beautiful." He was captain for nine years of a fire station in the Mt. Pleasant section of Providence that was built in 1904. "We had bats in that station," he said. Pare has received several fire service awards in his career, but he is most proud of an Heroic Action Second Class Award in 1989 for helping save the lives of a family of six in a fire in a multi-family building in South Providence. The first officer at the scene, Pare carried a young child out of the blaze that was caused by a space heater. "I found one child and saved them," Pare said. "That was a pretty huge event." Holder of a degree in fire science, the chief is also proud of having received executive fire officer certification last year through the National Fire Academy. Once wanted to teach Pare had initially planned to go into teaching, but the late 1970s was a time of layoffs in that field. So, he took the fire department test and scored high enough to get a job. Serving as an instructor for the past 20 years at the Rhode Island Fire Academy, Pare was able to do the teaching he initially longed for. "I am proud of my career. I was successful in my job," Pare said. "I never ever woke up and didn't want to go to work. I was meant to do this. I loved it." Pare, who grew up in East Providence, R.I., but has lived in Cranston, R.I., plans to relocate to town as he was requested to do. Divorced, Pare has two children, and says one of his pastimes is biking more to stay in shape. STEPHEN PETERSON can be reached at 508-236-0377 or at speterson@thesunchronicle.com.