After more than 30 years putting out fires – literal, budgetary, and administrative – Abington Fire Chief John Nuttall has hung up his turnout gear for good.
Nuttall finished his last shift on May 22 and officially retired after 33 years as a firefighter including the last 13 as chief.
“It’s time,” he said. “You just kinda know when it’s time to go.”
Nuttall is credited with taking over a department reeling from deep Great Recession-era budget cuts and rebuilding its ranks, improving training, securing state and federal grants, and replacing aging equipment.
“He’s done an amazing job,” said Town Manager Scott Lambiase. “Fiscally the department is in good shape. They’re fully staffed. Equipment is kept up.
“One of the most dynamic and difficult budgets to manage, in my opinion, is the fire budget, and he’s been very responsible with that budget.”
During a well-attended retirement ceremony at Abington Town Hall in May, new Chief Jack Glynn, who served as Nuttall’s deputy chief for 4 years, praised his longtime friend.
“He’s business-like. He’s focused. He’s goal-oriented. Anything he goes after he achieves,” Glynn said.
The department, during Nuttall’s time, has also avoided some of the labor management strife that has impacted other town agencies.
“Chief Nuttall leaves behind a legacy that is rich in tradition as well as leadership. He has been heavily involved over his 33-year career and we have become a better Department because of it,” said Kyle Gerrior, President of the Abington Firefighters Local 2080.
With both (Nuttall and Glynn) coming up through the ranks within the Department, they have always maintained a healthy working relationship between management and union and I see no alterations to that assessment in the future.”
Making Progress
Nuttall was hired in January 1990 when Abington still had 6-man shifts. When he took over as chief, the department was running 4-man shifts and Station 2 on Rockland Street was periodically closed.
“We had 14 firefighters available to work all shifts due to injuries and attrition,” he said.
The department now employs 28, including the chief, day captain, and an administrative assistant. A typical shift features four firefighters at Station 1 and two at Station 2.
“At one point the average age was 53. It’s now in the low 30s,” Nuttall said “That spreads the workload around, reduces injuries.”
During Nuttall’s retirement ceremony, Glynn joked that when they met in 1996, he was a transfer from a progressive, modern department in Florida, and Abington’s department was stuck in the “1700’s.” Despite polar opposite personalities – Nuttall is known for being serious and avoiding attention, while Glynn is more gregarious – the two bonded over shared frustrations with the department’s direction.
“We connected immediately,” Glynn said.
Back when Nuttall started, no firefighters had paramedic training. Now they all do. (Glynn was actually the department’s first paramedic.)
Firefighters also weren’t encouraged to seek out professional training opportunities. Now it’s part of the department’s culture.
“Abington at one point was behind a lot of area towns,” Nuttall said. “Now we’ve become a model.”
A Modern Department
The full stock of modern equipment in the department’s bays is a point of pride for Nuttall. The centerpiece is the department’s ladder truck – a handsome $1.2 million, 8-year-old piece of apparatus with a five-story platform known as “Tower 1”.
“I’m still amazed every time I see it,” he said. “I’m so thankful to the residents for purchasing that. It’s the safest thing for this town.”
The department also has 4 other engines, all in good working order, each fully stocked with the same equipment.
“They can all handle the same missions,” he said. “That comes into play when you have these large storms and were chasing all the wires that are down.
In addition, the department has a new brush truck, a new 4-wheeler, a mobile trailer to aid with water rescues, and it has replaced every foot of fire hose and every nozzle in recent years.
One difference between Nuttall and his predecessors was a focus on seeking out federal and state grants.
In 2013, the department secured a federal grant covering the salaries of four new firefighters, which allowed the department to go from 5-man shifts to 6, and put the second ambulance back in service. As the town’s finances improved, the salaries were built back into the budget.
Grants also largely paid for the brush truck and many equipment upgrades.
All of that improved equipment is needed to protect a community in 2023, Nuttall said. Although the number of house fires are down, overall call volume is up due to an increased focus on ambulance service, car accidents, and other emergencies. The town has also steadily added more homes and larger apartment complexes since 1990. And a number of big box stores such as Walmart, Target, and Lowes have come to town over the past 20 years.
Fires are also more challenging than the type Nuttall fought back when C & C Music Factory ruled the airwaves.
“We have more duplexes and triplexes. We’re compressing much more building space onto the same lot size,” said Nuttall, who regularly voiced his concerns during Planning Board and Zoning Board hearings. “That affects our ability to get apparatus close to the building.”
Houses are built tighter and contain more plastics and formaldehyde, resulting in fires that burn body hotter and release more hydrocarbons, he said. Homes are also more likely to have solar panels, which can impact the ability to cut venting holes in roofs. And battery fires associated with electric vehicles, e-bikes, and smart phones are particularly difficult.
“Fires are so much more complex than they were 30 years ago,” he said.
The good and the bad
Nuttall said he has a “photographic memory,” which can be a double-edged sword for a first responder.
He has a mental photo album of some great experiences: delivering a baby in the front seat of a car in the early 2000s, for example. Or using a ladder truck to help aim the lights at Memorial Field when they were first put up in the 90s.
“The flip side is that I remember a lot of the bad calls,” he said. “I’ve seen my share of tragedies in the town.
“It takes a toll. You can only take so much.”
As his last day neared, Nuttall wasn’t sure what retirement had in store. Instead, he might travel, or get deeper into woodoworking. There was just one thing he’s sure he won’t do.
“Some go back into politics. I will not be in that category,” Nuttall said.
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