Meet the Chief: Middletown's Fire Chief Ronald 'Ron' Doire

In 2009, after 27 years at the Pawtucket Fire Department, Middletown resident Ronald "Ron" Doire retired as Battalion Chief to accept the Fire Chief position in his hometown department.

“Middletown has a phenomenal ,” Doire said. “Everyone wants to say that about their department, but it is legitimately the best in the state.”

When he first assumed the role, Doire acknowledged some members of the department might had been apprehensive since he was the first chief to be hired from an outside department. However he said the transition has been smooth. 

“The guys were great,” he said.

He did not want to make drastic changes, so he spent the first few years learning the system. 

Love first brought Doire to Middletown in 1989, when he moved to be closer to his girlfriend Sally, who is now wife. They have one daughter, Claire, an eighth grade student at .

To stay close to Doire, his parents and his sister eventually followed him to Middletown. Despite the hour commute to work, he never considered leaving the island. 

When asked about differences between the the Pawtucket and, Doire said the shift structure was a challenging transition. In Pawtucket, there are 31 fire fighters on each shift, but in smaller Middletown, there is only a 6-man minimum. 

He explained that structure requires that for any major event, the department must coordinate with Portsmouth, Newport and the Navy Base. He said the challenge is the logistics of the different equipment, radio frequencies and staff. 

"In Pawtucket, I would have all my guys right there," Doire said.

Despite those hurdles, Doire said the state-wide system to share services across departments, called Mutual Aid, is effective.

“Firefighters are very good at working as a team,” explained Doire.

There are no charge-backs across departments, but he said on the island, the costs are relatively even across the town lines.

Another challenge that Doire identified with a smaller department is that he is always on call. Doire said that if there is a major event or a fire, dispatch will call him up and he will go to the scene.

Despite the challenges, Doire said it's a privilege to serve as chief and that he is struck by the level of commitment the department has to the community.

“I was really impressed with how much above and beyond they really did,” he explained.  “There is a culture of community service.”

Looking forward, Doire said his priority will be to to solve the problem of the station.  The current station, built in 1955, is not structurally adequate or strategically located for the best response time, Doire said.

Doire explained the station is in the geographic center of town, but it is not the most populated.

“When the station was built, the population was more evenly distributed,” he said.

“My job as fire chief is to provide the best service to all residents, but do it in the most effective way,” he said.  The town will conduct a study to analyze the best solution.

Options that are being considered are to remodel the existing station or to build a sub-station.