The fire chief in Chilmark is retiring this winter after nearly thirty years in the department.
Jeremy Bradshaw has been in the driver’s seat of the department since 2019, and has overseen some big changes, such as the building of new facilities at Menemsha Crossroads, hiring and attracting volunteers, and navigating the pandemic. He started as a volunteer fireman in 1997, shortly after moving to the Island with his wife, Annie.
“It’s been a good run, but it’s time to do something different,” Bradshaw told The Times. He will officially be retiring in February.
It’s a simple reason for the chief: He’s turning 65, and is ready to hand off the reins to the next generation. He said the Chilmark select board will post the position in December, and they hope to have someone hired by January 15th, which he said will give him about a month to properly train them. They’ll be looking at internal and outside candidates.
“There’s one person we have right now in-house, but there’s other people on the Island, I think, [who] are interested,” Bradshaw continued.
They have 42 volunteers in the Chilmark fire department currently, and Bradshaw said he appreciates the many residents of Brazilian heritage who are on their roster in recent years.
“I’ve been very fortunate. I’ve been very lucky with the volunteers and the support of the town. It’s been really good,” Bradshaw said. “We have a good group from the Brazilian community, which has been great.”
As for next steps for Bradshaw, he said he’s looking forward to continuing to own and operate Martha’s Vineyard Tile, which he opened with his wife in 1996. But due to a hand injury from this past May, he’ll be limited in that role, so he said he’ll be looking for other activities to fill his time.
When he reflected on the last few years, Bradshaw said he feels grateful for the volunteers at the fire department, and hopes people continue to sign up in any capacity.
“You don’t have to be a firefighter — even fire — to volunteer, because only a small proportion [are] fires,” Bradshaw said. “There’s search and rescue, you know, there’s a lot — drone group water rescue. So I always tell people: ‘Hey, anytime, anything you can help with would be great.’”
