Wilmington’s new fire chief

Back in July the city of Wilmington selected Cecil “Buddy” Martinette to be the new fire chief replacing Sam Hill who held the position for the last 20 years.

August 2nd was Buddy’s first day on the job. His day culminated Tuesday night at City Hall where Mayor Bill Saffo officially introduced Martinette to the city.

“It’s been a busy first day. I had a chance to meet a lot of nice people. We actually had a chance to ride around with one of the battalion chiefs and ran a call today, so I had a chance to see the guys in action a little bit, but other than that we spent the day working with senior staff trying to outline what our objectives will be for the next couple weeks,” said Martinette.

Chief Martinette tells WWAY that the Wilmington Fire Department has already started to prepare for a possible Hurricane Hanna arrival this weekend.