Selectboard Appoints New Durham Fire Chief
The New Durham Select Board has approved the appointment of Tim Wilder as the new part time New Durham Fire Chief at their meeting of September 10, 2025. Chief Wilder is highly skilled in key skill areas such as emergency management coordination, command and emergency response procedures, firefighter development, on-scene incident management, departmental and personnel accountability, budget planning and management, and even commercial/ residential construction inspections.
Important in the Select Board’s choice include the information that Chief Wilder is a Fire & Emergency Services Instructor I, Firefighter I & II, NFPA Certified Fire Protection Specialist, ICC Certified Residential Building Inspector, Fire Inspector I & II, NFPA Certified Plans Examiner, Advanced EMT Certification, and has the NH Motor Vehicle CDL - B license. He has worked for the Durham, Rochester, and Milton Fire Departments including Deputy Chief in Rochester and Rochester Fire Marshall. He has shown progressive leadership in achieving short and long-term goals with a focus on public safety. He is a highly motivated, creative, and energetic professional with a demonstrated ability to work with a wide variety of people.
In its process the New Durham Select Board received multiple resumes to consider for this position and during its final decision process valued the input of the Oral Board. The Select Board scheduled interviews with the top three Oral Board candidates and from this process chose Tim Wilder for the New Durham part time Fire Chief position. Expected start date for Chief Wilder is on or about September 15, 2025.
During the Select Board’s decision process the following criteria have been the deciding factors (rationale) for its decision:
I) Multiple years as senior level fire department administration and command experience. Concurrent with this is assuring the full range of public safety experience and certificates are current including firefighting, EMT, etc. With experience as Assistant Fire Chief and Deputy Fire Chief with command experience in over 300 major incidents Chief Wilder has shown this experience. The Board viewed a major incident as one in which the individual was the lead command person and involved significant fire department personnel supervision during the incident. Additionally, Chief Wilder has current EMT Advanced certifications, Level 3 Fire Certifications, is a NFPA Examiner, and has ICC Building Inspector certification.
2) Strong budget development and management of departmental operations. Chief Wilder has shown not only strong budget development and management experience in his work in Rochester but also successfully wrote and was awarded major grant funding for various large equipment acquisitions. In addition, Chief Wilder has developed successful business case for equipment purchases with presentation skills in presenting these to the deciding entity.
3) Amongst the candidates, Chief Wilder demonstrated the best understanding of current morale and public confidence concerns within and related to the New Durham Fire Department. During his interview he showed he was prepared offering some solid strategies to address these issues.
4) The most important criteria in this selection is the individual's skill in addressing all public safety needs for firefighting, emergency management, and EMT services. In addition, the Select Board also felt that strong people skills and effective management of fire department personnel including compensation, performance evaluations, strategically developing needed departmental training, and implementing and consistently following standard operating procedures (SOP) are key in advancing the public safety in New Durham. Chief Wilder, during the selection and interview process with the Select Board, provided superior experience and ideas for transitioning this experience into the New Durham Fire Department.
The New Durham Fire Chief is the chief administrative and command officer for the New Durham Fire Department and is responsible for duties as outlined in the approved job description for this position. New Durham also relies on a strong mutual aid relationship with surrounding towns. Based on various inputs during the interview process the Board believes Chief Wilder understands how to establish and / or continue these mutual aid working relationships. Public relationships and interpersonal skills are necessary in order to effectively carry out the Board’s policies and directions and the Board believe Chief Wilder will provide New Durham with the public safety needs of the community.
We welcome Fire Chief Wilder in joining New Durham employment and continuing the Town’s progress in further creating a work environment conducive to public safety, increased productivity, and taxpayer value.