Acton fire chief to cap decades-long career

A 40-year career in Acton’s firehouses will come to a close next week when Fire Chief Thomas Judge hangs up his helmet.

Judge’s last day will be August 7. 

“It has been the honor of my lifetime to serve the residents of Acton alongside the incredibly brave and dedicated men and women of this department,” Judge said in a statement Monday night. “I’m immensely proud of what we’ve accomplished.”

Town Manager Kerry Lafleur announced Judge’s retirement at Monday’s Select Board meeting. 

Acton currently has two assistant fire chiefs, Walter Latta and Brian Whitney. Lafleur praised both men and said she expects Judge’s successor will come from within the department. 

Climbing the ranks

Judge started working in Acton in 1983 as a police dispatcher. He was in the pipeline to become a police officer in his hometown of Lexington, but he wanted to be a firefighter and the Acton gig was a “foot in the door.” 

He joined the Acton Fire Department in 1985. He became an assistant fire chief in 2015 and took the top job in 2017. 

“Acton has been a great place to work,” he said. 

Fire Department staffing grew during Judge’s career, and the department added an ambulance in West Acton. The town will soon transition to paramedic-level service.

Judge recalled working with a now-retired colleague to replace Acton’s aging hardwired fire alarm boxes with boxes that use radio systems.

The town’s population hasn’t grown much, but call volumes have soared from around 1,200 calls when Judge started his career. In an interview this week, he said he expects the department will finish this year with 4,100 to 4,200 calls. 

Judge spoke with The Acton Bridge earlier this year, recalling how department firefighting procedures changed with increasing staffing over the years. When he became a captain in 2011, he said, incident commanders still juggled frontline duties along with management responsibilities.

“As a captain who’s in charge of the scene, it’s very hard to do that when you’re backing up the nozzle man on the second floor of a building,” he said. 

In that situation, he said, “you only know what’s going on in the room you’re in — and you’re trying to listen to the radio and direct things, too.”

The department ditched the old model while Judge was a captain. These days, when firefighters face flames, the incident commander quarterbacks the response from a better vantage point outside the building. 

‘Lucky to serve’

Lafleur said she and Judge had been talking about his retirement date in recent months, but the final decision came together quickly.

Judge is “very much into continuous improvement,” Lafleur said, and he’s quick to offer copies of new books about leadership.

“He’s a gentleman, and the community has been well served by him for 42 years now,” she said, noting Judge’s stint in the police department. 

“Chief Judge will be missed,” said Select Board Chair Mark Howell. 

Save for one hire in the mid-2000s, Judge said all Acton fire chiefs over his career have come from inside the department. He said departments should promote from within, when possible. While he doesn’t know “100% what the plan is” and didn’t weigh in on individual candidates, he said Acton has a deep bench for his replacement. 

Judge expects aging facilities will be his successor’s biggest challenge. 

A longtime Bedford resident, Judge and his wife plan to settle in Laconia, New Hampshire, near Lake Winnipesaukee. 

He doesn’t have specific retirement plans, but he said, “I’m going to have to do something. 

“If I don’t work,” he said, “I’ll go out of my mind.”