Vanessa Devolin started out in 2005 as the Assistant to the Chief and now she has the number two position at the force.
TILLSONBURG - A long time member of the Tillsonburg Fire Department has been promoted to Assistant Chief.
Vanessa Devolin started out in 2005 as the Assistant to the Chief and now she has the number two position at the force. She has held several different positions, most recently serving as the acting deputy chief, before moving into the role on a permanent basis.
Devolin explains the biggest challenge in her new role moving forward.
"Fire Comm is growing quite rapidly and we have a lot of competition out there right now, I am facilitating them moving into the MG901 status by hopefully next year. That is a big task to take on to meet all of the requirements for actually having a secondary piece up."
To call it a busy week for Tillsonburg Fire, would be a huge understatement. Crews battled a massive blaze on Tuesday at the Lisgar Avenue apartment buildings. You can read about that online here. Firefighters also responded to a fatal collision on Lisgar Avenue that same day.
Devolin says the team is working together to handle a week like the one they just had.
"We stay together as a team, we all take care of each other and check in. Last night the suppression side met, they talked about what happened at the incident and we try to grow and move forward and also support each other. That is what we do, we stick together tight as a team, same as the dispatch team, we just make sure everyone is ok at all times."
Tillsonburg Fire Chief Shane Caskanette presented Vanessa Devolin with her Assistant Chief’s white helmet earlier this week.

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