April 12--PETERBOROUGH -- After a months-long search, town officials in Peterborough have named a new fire chief.
Edmund "Ed" Walker, 49, will join the town's fire department on May 5, succeeding Chief Joseph P. Lenox 3rd, who will retire on May 31.
Walker is a Massachusetts native who has been a firefighter for two decades. He joined his hometown fire department of Weston as a firefighter/EMT in 1984, later becoming the town's fire chief and emergency management director in 2002.
Walker left the Weston Fire Department in 2007 to become the director of the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy in Stow. Walker had served as the academy's program coordinator and fire instructor since 1992.
In an interview with The Sentinel, he said he is looking forward to being a chief again.
"What I really enjoyed the most about that was dealing with people, working with the fire department and the citizens on that level," Walker said.
Since his college roommate is a lifelong resident of Peterborough, Walker has visited the town a number of times.
"The town is a phenomenal town," Walker said, adding he thought it would be a good fit when he saw the job opening.
He said he's especially looking forward to working in an area supportive of its fire department, which he said is "positioned very well."
"It's a community that's always been willing to provide," Walker said. "They've got a very robust fire department."
Walker left the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy last year to do private consulting work and return to school at Boston University, where he is working on a master of science degree, in business continuity, security and risk management. He already holds an MBA and has a graduate certificate in geographic information systems from Northeastern University.
Lenox, who is 61 and has been with the department for 10 years, said he believes Walker will be a good fit for the department and the town.
"I think he's going to be a great addition to the department," Lenox said. "He's young; he's energetic."
Looking ahead to his new position, Walker said he plans to maintain the town's EMT services, which he commended as a self-sustaining operation.
"This is a critical service to the community, the service is not a (financial) burden to the community," he said.
Walker said he will also continue to foster strong levels of staffing in the department, work with the community, and work with schools and community organizations on fire prevention and emergency information.
He will start on May 5, and with Lenox retiring at the end of the month, there will be an "overlap month" for Walker to meet town and fire officials while Lenox is still there.
"It will probably be a very busy month," Lenox said. "He's going to be hitting the ground running."
Walker said he's looking forward to it.
"It's an opportunity for me to pick Joe's brain," he said.
Walker said he plans to move to Peterborough from his current home in Natick, Mass., in June or July.
Ella Nilsen can be reached at [email protected] or 352-1234, extension 1409. Follow her on Twitter @ENilsenKS.
Copyright 2014 - The Keene Sentinel, N.H.
