The Orange Fire Marshal’s office is responsible for many important safety issues throughout town. Separate from the volunteer fire department, which responds to and extinguishes fires, the Fire Marshal (Jamie Vincent) or Deputy Fire Marshal (Tim Boyer) will respond to a scene not to fight a fire, but rather, in an investigative capacity, to get to the bottom of what caused the fire.
Another very important component of the office is the fire inspector’s job. This very busy office usually employs two fire inspectors, but in early fall, it was short-handed. With the shift in assignments in the Fire Marshal’s office since Tim Smith’s passing earlier in the year — Deputy Vincent was promoted to Fire Marshal, Inspector Boyer moved up to Deputy and longtime inspector Mike Knight retired, which left a vacancy.
Introducing Joe Taylor Fire Inspector
The search for a good, qualified, responsible fire inspector was on, and in August, an application came through that checked all the boxes.
Joseph Taylor— call him “Joe” — was a Bridgeport Firefighter for 21.5 years and served in the fire marshal’s office for 7 years.
He retired in 2018 and was taking it easy and helping family members with little projects and taking care of his nieces and nephews whenever needed.
After more than a year of relaxation, COVID-19 hit, and life as he knew it changed. Retirement was boring, golf wasn’t his thing, and, at 52, it was time for Joe to get back to work.
He was looking for the right fit when the Orange inspector’s job opened up. Joe took the test and was certified when he was in Bridgeport and trained with the guys in that office. He had more than 100 fire investigations under his belt.
Working in Bridgeport, a city of 145,000 people was different from Orange (population 14,000) most of the inspections were multifamily homes, whereas in Orange the inspections are primarily businesses.
Since joining the OFM office, Joe has had a lot to learn, first and foremost, backroads.
He’s found the business owners to be nice, friendly and very cooperative.
He looks forward to doing home inspections and ensuring residents are safe in their own surroundings.
Joe said he’s happy to be back in the fire service. He loved being a firefighter and has the same feeling in this office. “It’s like a family, everyone is welcoming,” he said.
He can’t wait for COVID to be over so he can get out in the community and share in all the town events he’s heard so much about, such as the Firemen’s Carnival, Country Fair, Fouth of July fireworks, etc.
Joe lives in Stratford with his wife of 25 years, Marcy.