Brighton Area Fire Authority Announces New Full-Time Inspector

There's a new fire inspector in town — after an internal testing process, the Brighton Area Fire Authority promoted Lt. Rick Boisvert to the position.

Boisvert, a paid on-call firefighter for the past seven years, will begin his new full-time position with the department Monday.

"My main motivation for pursuing this position was to provide my hometown with fire prevention service and public education service to reduce the risk of fire and its effects on the community that I love," Boisvert said.

The Brighton Area Fire Department comprises 81 on-call firefighters as well as a combination full-time and part-time staff, which includes the chief, fire marshal, two fire inspectors, three day-shift supervisors and three administrative support personnel.

The department has not had two fire inspectors since the previous inspector, Bill Gage, died in January while recovering from heart surgery.

"We need two fire inspectors because of the area we cover," Fire Chief Larry Lane said. "We cover an area of 73 square miles, we have a lot of industries and a lot of businesses, and we inspect on an annual basis."

Boisvert said he has "always had an interest in investigation — the actual cause and origin.

"I'm married with two children and worked a full-time job on top of it as an on-call firefighter, I just never had time to do the fire investigation part of it," he said. "Once they put the posting out, I started reading some of the study material, and it made me want to learn more about it. I started reading some of the books and the more I read, the more in-depth it got in the specifics of the inspection process and the investigation process — and it piqued my interest."

Boisvert credits his wife for getting him through the testing process. He said he would study until 2-3 a.m., even when he had to be up at 7 a.m. for his job with a property management landscape company.

"If it wasn't for my wife, I don't know if I would have had enough motivation to continue studying," he said. "She would say, 'You can do this, you're smarter than this.' She was my biggest motivator."

Boisvert got his start as a paid on-call firefighter because his twin brother, Lt. Jim Boisvert, started with the Fire Department through its junior program.

"He pushed me to do it and do it, but I never did," Rick Boisvert said. "Then in my early 20s, he said, 'Come on, you can do this,' and once I did, I was hooked. I enjoy helping people and seeing the end result of the work we do."

Boisvert said his family is super excited about his promotion, especially his son, who always loved his dad being a firefighter.

"He's happy I get to do it full time now," Boisvert said.