There’s a change in leadership at the fire department for the Town of Ste. Anne.

Deputy Mayor Yvan St. Vincent says council has hired Bob Saindon to guide the department and hopefully grow the team of firefighters.

“Volunteer firefighter retention is difficult, it’s hard to find people,” St. Vincent explains. “People are very busy. There’s lots of things going on.”

He says they have already noticed new members signing up.

While it’s not required for the fire chief to be bi-lingual, St. Vincent feels it will be a great benefit to now have a chief who speaks both official languages.

He says it helps represent the bi-lingual community.

St. Vincent expresses appreciation for all the work put in by outgoing chief John Desrochers who has served on the department for many years, as a firefighter, and more recently as chief.