North Grenville’s outgoing fire chief says collectively his thirty-six year career has been rewarding overall.
It was announced late last week that John Okum will retire as fire chief in early October after first joining the department in June, 2017.
Okum says he first started as a firefighter on a volunteer basis in his hometown of Arnprior and eventually became fire chief there before joining North Grenville.
He says the fact that there is a growing community here with a well structured fire department already in place made it possible for him to carry on the work that had already started.
However, Okum says he feels now is the right time to call it a career.
“The department is heading in a really positive direction and it’s time to take on that retirement role, do the fun things, and knowing that someone who is coming in behind has a great start to continue.”
The search has started for a new full-time fire chief with Deputy Chief Randy Urslak stepping into the role of Acting Fire Chief in the interim.
