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Date: 1/4/2024
WILBRAHAM — Deputy Fire Chief Peter Nothe has submitted notice for his resignation, effective Aug. 9, 2024, to the Select Board. In Massachusetts, firefighters must retire by age 65, unless special dispensation is approved by the municipality and the state. Nothe will turn 65 on Dec. 28, 2024.
Nothe began his career as a firefighter with the Monson Fire Department in 1979. In 1987, he became one of the town’s first full-time firefighters trained as a paramedic, before moving on to the Wilbraham Fire Department later that year.
When reflecting on why he became a firefighter, Nothe joked, “It’s been so long, I don’t remember.” He said, “I’ve always loved the job — the good stuff, the bad stuff. I can’t put my finger on any one thing I’ll miss most. It’s all of it.
“This is definitely a young man’s job. These guys are going non-stop,” Nothe said. “I’ve been doing this longer than most of the [firefighters in the department] have been alive.”
One of those firefighters is Nothe’s son, Andrew Nothe. At one point, Nothe’s brother, Francis Nothe, was the fire chief and the three worked together. “The fire service is a family business, not just here, but you go into any fire house, there’s family,” Nothe said.
Over Nothe’s 40-plus years in fire service, he said the thing that has changed most is the shift toward EMS as a core function of the job. “That’s the majority of what we do now,” he said. The Wilbraham Fire Department began running an ambulance a few years after Nothe joined the department. Since then, a number of long-term care facilities have opened in town, and have become the source of many of the department’s medical calls.
With his new-found spare time, Nothe said he and his wife want to travel. Nothe and his brother also own real estate, on which he might focus more of his time.