BONNYVILLE – When Jay Melvin, the regional fire chief for the Bonnyville Regional Fire Authority (BRFA), announced his resignation last week it sent a wave of surprise and shock through the community.
However, the former regional fire chief told Lakeland This Week, he has no regrets.
“I've contemplated it over 100 times in the last three or four days. Should I, or shouldn’t I? But it's a family decision,” Melvin explained.
Acknowledging that his notice of leave came out of the blue for those he worked with, Melvin said it is only a coincidence that his resignation came on the heels of “things that were happening in the media with the Regional Fire Authority, but I can say that that has zero bearing on my decision moving forward – this was primarily a personal decision.”
Putting to bed rumors, Melvin reaffirmed that no one had asked him to leave or showed him the door.
“There's always times in your career when you think ‘should you move or should you not move,’ or opportunities come up, and with certain personal issues, I've decided that this is the right time to take a different step in a different direction.”
Moving on to the next chapter of his life, Melvin and his family intend to relocate out of the area, although no timeline or concrete plans have been made.
Melvin and his family first moved to the area in 2005 when he was stationed at Four-Wing Cold Lake where he worked as the fire chief on the base.
After settling into the community and his children entering middle school, the Newfoundland native retired from the military and took over as the regional deputy chief for the BRFA in 2012. Then in 2018, he moved up the ranks and took over from Brian McEvoy as the regional fire chief.
Serving nearly three years as the chief, Melvin admitted the BRFA has been through some rocky roads over the last year, but he is confident in the newly elected Town of Bonnyville and MD of Bonnyville council members who have been appointed as the board of directors for the BRFA.
“I believe the cooler heads have prevailed within the partnering municipalities and collectively now they are working a lot better than previously,” said Melvin. “They're going to continue on doing what they do here and support the (BRFA) members, EMS staff and 911 staff. I think (my leaving) may just be a little small bump in the road, but they'll get past that and move on.”
Noting that there will be a short transition period before he completes his last day with the BRFA on Nov. 19, Melvin added, “My job is to bring (my replacement) up to speed as quickly as possible. But at the end of the day, they have now been appointed into that position, so they don't need me hanging around here. That person needs to take the reins and steer the organization where they need it to go. I will be available for the next week or so to pass on that information, but I'm quite confident in the staff that is here.”
Wanting to reflect on the positive experiences he had during his time working in the community, he said, “I'll miss the people. The community has been fantastic to me over the years, but I’m moving on to different things... It's never an easy decision when you have to leave an organization and it's been very hard to make that decision – but normally the hardest decisions are the right ones.”
His comradery will be missed
Prior to officially handing in his resignation, Melvin informed those closest to him of his decision to leave the fire authority. Gordon Graves the volunteer fire chief from Iron River, was one of those people who received that call.
“It was a shock when he told me what was going on,” said Graves recalling how he felt receiving the news. “It doesn't make it any easier to accept, but it makes it easier to understand and that's huge that he made the gesture to phone people and say, ‘Hey, you're going to hear this, but I want you to know why, so you're not speculating and guessing and blaming people who had nothing to do with it.’”
Graves describes Melvin as a good friend, his favourite farm apprentice and an astute individual who was widely respected.
Like many Saturdays, Melvin arrived at Graves’ farm to lend a helping hand only a few days before he announced his resignation.
“Everything seemed fine, but I think he really put a lot of time and effort in to making the decision. He likes the area, he's put roots down here and any time that you have to leave kind of sudden like this, it becomes a hard decision, especially for someone like Jay,” said Graves. “It's not just going to impact his family. It'll impact a number of communities. The regional fire authority is a community, but also on the greater community too, because he was quite outgoing and he was fairly visible in the community. So, the community at large is going to lose.”
Coming from Four-Wing before serving the BRFA, Graves described Melvin’s knowledge, experience firefighting, and skills as a manager being second to none. “Jay is a very personable person as well. So, he was a hell of a good fit for the (BRFA),” he said.
As the regional fire chief, Graves will always remember Melvin for how he managed crews on the scene of an incident.
“One of the things that he’ll be missed for, is when he came out to an incident we were on, he spoke to everybody, which gave everybody a sense of belonging, and a sense of ‘Oh, he's here to oversee us, but he's a friend.’ That was huge... He was willing to ask what our opinion was if we were already in charge of the scene before he took over,” recalled Graves. “He appreciated the experience we all brought to the table.”
Embodying strong leadership skills like his predecessor, Graves noted, “Much like Brian McEvoy, if you had an issue and you took it to him, he dealt with it. They're willing to take the time.”
Graves added, “Life is full of ups and downs and this is a down for sure. But at the same time, I think we're in good hands with Dan (Heney) stepping in as the acting chief.”
