LIVERMORE FALLS – Come June 5, Fire Chief Ken Jones will be leaving his native hometown to keep watch over another community in a neighboring state.

Jones has been hired as the full-time chief of Meredith Fire Department in New Hampshire. Jones who has served Livermore Falls as a firefighter for 31 years, 15 of those as chief, was chosen from among 24 candidates, Meredith Town Manager Carol Granfield, a former Dixfield manager, said Friday. His annual salary is $68,556, she said.

“I’m excited to have Ken Jones join our town team as our new fire chief. He brings a wealth of experience that will greatly assist Meredith in leading our fully volunteer department,” Granfield said. “He will be starting in June and experience firsthand Motorcycle Week in June along with overseeing the expansion of our downtown fire station. I look forward to working with Chief Jones.”

Jones will leave his regular job at Wausau Paper after 29 years, 21 of those as its emergency coordinator.

The decision was difficult, Jones said, especially with his family roots deep in Maine, but with the uncertainty of the paper industry, he started looking for a new job as a full-time fire chief.

Meredith is roughly about 114 miles from Livermore Falls and its population of about 6,667 triples in peak tourist time. Meredith is an area of 53.7 square miles.

“It’s all lakes and mountains,” Jones said.

The Meredith department is running about 400 calls a year compared to about 100 calls here, Jones said.

It has 40 on-call firefighters, two stations – one that will undergo a $2.3 million renovation, including an addition, under his watch – numerous trucks, including four pumpers, and two fire boats. He’ll arrive in time to help continue pursuit to buy a 100-foot tower quint – a pumper and ladder truck in one.

The annual budget last year for the Meredith department was $274,000. In Livermore Falls, it was about $73,000.

“I’m walking into a dream. … I’m walking into a municipality that is very supporting and financially sound,” Jones said.

The chief currently has a roster of 34 on-call firefighters and earns a $3,000 stipend. In the last four or five years, he has, with help of fellow firefighters, brought in about $500,000 in grant money for equipment, gear and a new truck.

He also helped guide Farmington’s used ladder truck into Livermore Falls.

“It took a lot of wind out of me in nine months,” Jones said. “I still feel it was the right purchase for this municipality.”

It has been challenging by all means to operate this department, Jones said.

“Certainly with the ongoing requirements it is continually tough to be a call-department fire chief. The requirements (including training) just grow and grow. And, with all the grants available today, it takes a lot of time to prepare for one, write one and if you’re awarded on, to bid and purchase the equipment,” he said.

He’ll miss his family, friends and obviously the department and being involved in high school sports in a school he graduated from, he said.

“I face a lot of challenges in the next year to year-and-a-half with building, purchase of new aerial apparatus, and just learning the operations in the area,” he said. “These are good challenges. There are exciting challenges. I thank this community (Livermore Falls) for giving me the opportunity to educate myself to this level in the fire service. It’s given me the opportunity to move on and I certainly wish everybody well after my departure.”