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Date: 7/22/2020
EASTHAMPTON – The city of Easthampton appointed Christopher Norris as its new fire chief during a recent City Council meeting conducted via Zoom. The vote of the full council to approve his nomination was unanimous at 9-0.
Norris is currently the senior deputy fire chief in Northampton.
“I am very humbled and honored to be offered the position of fire chief in the city of Easthampton. I am very well aware of the legacy of the previous four chiefs before me and I hope to continue in the great tradition,” said Norris.
Norris started out as a volunteer firefighter in the town of Westhampton in April of 1994. He had family and friends in the department who encouraged him to join. At the time, he was attending Westfield State College, living at home, and working on his family’s dairy farm so he was in town a lot and able to respond, he explained.
“It was very rewarding to serve my community and help people I grew up with and knew during any difficult times,” Norris said.
In August 2000, he was hired full time by the city of Northampton. Through the years, he continued his education and training. He was the fire chief in Westhampton from 2007 until August of last year.
He retired from the department completely after 12 and a half years as chief and 25 years in the department because at the time he just had his prospectus for his Ph.D approved and would be focusing on writing his proposal, as well as working full time in Northampton as the coordinator at the State Fire Academy. His daughters were both involved with sports at the time, also.
To add to his resume, Norris has taught for the Massachusetts Fire Academy since 2003 and is currently the statewide coordinator for the Call/Volunteer Recruit Training Program.
He shared that he applied for the position for a number of reasons. The fact that the city is a vibrant and dynamic community with many infrastructure projects and new developments being built was among them.
“The city of Easthampton also has a number of resources that provide professional challenges in the field of emergency services that requires a diverse knowledge of skills and abilities to mitigate any emergencies such as the bodies of water, old mill buildings, mix of commercial and industry, educational facilities, Mount Tom range, and numerous residential housing that have significant exposures with neighboring buildings,” said Norris.
He added the Easthampton Fire Department provides fire-based EMS transport service at the paramedic level which is the highest level of service offered pre-hospital for EMS.
He shared that the Fire Department has provided exceptional service in this field over the years and to have the opportunity to come into this type of system and contribute to improving it would be extremely rewarding.
Norris was one of two finalists in the search to replace Easthampton Fire Chief David Mottor. An internal candidate was offered the job first but Mayor Nicole LaChapelle said an agreement on the contract could not be reached so he declined the position.
LaChapelle said, “Mr. Norris presents a great opportunity for the Easthampton fire service to go to the next level in emergency services as well as fire services for the city of Easthampton like they come to expect and deserve.
“His resume and level of professional development in fire services was really impressive. He had built a strong emergency management service team and program over in Northampton which Easthampton has and we wanted that to get stronger.”
Norris said, “ I have a vision for the department, however, my first priority is to come into the organization and just sit and listen to all the staff and personnel. Many of them have been there for a number of years and have institutional knowledge of the community and organization that I need to hear.”
He also said he looks forward to meeting with external stakeholders in the community and listening to how the fire department can work and support outside agencies and projects to improve the community.
As of press time, there was no official start date for Norris but LaChapelle said she hopes to have him on board by Aug. 1.