Fire Chief Dave Paxton to retire in January
By: Clint Fleury, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Source: TBnewswatch.com
THUNDER BAY — After less than two years at the helm of Thunder Bay Fire and Rescue, Fire Chief Dave Paxton is retiring.
“It’s just something you keep an eye on as you go through a career, and the timing made sense for me and my family. I wanted to give the city enough time to transition to whoever the person that would be replacing me and to have a smooth transition in the administration role,” Paxton told Newswatch.
He said he’ll retire in January 2026.
“I’m gonna maybe enjoy some ice fishing in the middle of the winter. Take some time and catch up on some of the things that maybe fell to the wayside over the last 13 years or so, and just reconnect with some of the things away from work,” Paxton said.
Paxton first joined the local fire service in April 1998 and quickly moved through the ranks. In 2012, he became the duty fire chief, which he served in that role until June 2024, when he took the role of fire chief.
“I started as a student working for the city, really enjoyed that environment and working for the city. I went away and played some hockey. When I came back, the team environment really drew me to the job and the opportunity to do something different every day. So, coming to work and serving the community in that role was really a great opportunity, and I enjoyed it all the way through,” Paxton said.
Even though Thunder Bay is a small community, serving with other provincial response teams was a rewarding experience, he said.
“I was part of a team of 20 people that responded to the G8 in Huntsville a number of years ago. Working with our partners with the Ontario Fire Marshals Office and Emergency response unit, we’re part of a provincial response for Urban Search and Rescue and Hazmat. So, we get to work with Ottawa, Toronto, Windsor, North Bay, Peterborough, and all the other departments connected to me with many other colleagues, throughout the province,” Paxton said.
The city has posted the position on its careers website, applicants have until early December to turn in their resumes.
Paxton offers some advice to the next person to take on the role of fire chief. He said that one thing he’s learned is “you never get it right every time.”
“You do your best and you make the decisions that you can based on the information in front of you, and really that’s what the career of firefighting is, making decisions with the information in front of you. We try to do the best here as an administration team and as a leadership here at Thunder Bay Fire to really look out for employees, look out for the citizens with the end goal of trying to serve the community as best we could,” Paxton said.
