LIVERMORE FALLS — Selectmen on Tuesday night appointed Nathan Guptill of Livermore as fire chief.

He was Turner’s fire chief for four years before leaving in July, interim Town Manager Alex Pawson said Thursday.

“I enjoy helping people,” Guptill said Thursday. “I was the fire chief in Turner for the last four years, resigned in July. I miss it.”

Guptill said one of his goals is to establish a junior firefighting program in Livermore Falls. “I started in that with Turner 20 years ago,” he said. He was its first junior firefighter, starting at age 16, according to a July 8, 2022, post on the Turner Fire Department Facebook page.

Getting the Livermore Falls Fire Department back on track is another goal, Guptill said.

Pawson said salary has not been discussed yet but it will be about the same as former Fire Chief Mike Booker, who was paid $20.34 per hour.

Guptill met with five firefighters Wednesday night, along with Selectman Ernie Souther. Pawson, who also attended, described it as upbeat and people seemed OK with the decision.

Of the six applicants for the job, four showed up for interviews, Pawson said, two from Livermore Falls, one from Livermore and one from Dixfield.

In a related matter Tuesday, Livermore Falls selectmen suggested the agreement to pay Livermore and Jay for nonurgent fire calls be extended. The agreement signed by the three towns expires March 1.

Jay either started enforcing or created a new rule that those serving on the Jay Fire Department can’t be members of another, Pawson said. Two members who were with Livermore Falls and Jay departments resigned and stayed with Jay, he noted.

Livermore Falls has two new hires, Pawson said. “Four are in the pipeline, one is very close to being hired by the end of the month,” he stated. “We are always looking.”

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