Stoughton's Justin Goldberg Set to Graduate Fire Academy, Join Father as Stoughton Firefighter

Stoughton's Justin Goldberg will be one of 68 local firefighters to graduate from the State Firefighting Academy on Friday, where he will then join his father, Acting Deputy Chief Greg Goldberg, working for the Stoughton Fire Department. 

Goldberg, 23, a 2007 graduate of Stoughton High School, already comes to the SFD with plenty of experience, having worked for the Norfolk Fire Department for a little more than a year and as a paramedic for an ambulance service before that. He's also been a per diem dispatcher for the Stoughton Fire Department prior to being hired full-time by Stoughton and sent to the 12-week Fire Academy.

Justin has long wanted to be a firefighter, his dad said, and now gets to fulfill this dream working for his hometown. 

"I'm just proud that first and foremost he's chosen the profession he wants to do," Greg said of his son. "It's fulfilling to him to do the same thing I find fulfilling...It's a nice thing." 

Justin is the oldest of Greg and his wife Joanne's five children.

While Justin happens to be following in his father's footsteps (Greg, a 1984 SHS graduate, joined the fire department in January of 1989), Greg said his goal for all of his children is that they do "something they want to do; that fulfills them and does good for others" - no matter what the profession.

Justin said he became set on becoming a firefighter his junior year of high school. He became an EMT two weeks after turning 18, Greg said. 

"It's exciting, it's a one of a kind job," Justin said. "To be able to work with my father, it's a once in a lifetime experience."

Stoughton Fire Chief Mark Dolloff said "it's always nice to have someone born and raised in the town" join the department. 

Dolloff said he was impressed with Justin's "integrity [and] his overall commitment to community and family." 

"I think he'll be a great addition to the Stoughton Fire Department," Dolloff said. "You look towards providing a great future for the department [when hiring a new firefighter]. Justin Goldberg is the type of candidate you like to encounter...Great hire for the department. Great hire for the residents."

Dolloff has been is Justin's shoes before, having worked with his own father, Lawrence, when he joined the Stoughton Fire Department in 1983. 

"I had the exact same perspective. My father was deputy chief when I started," Dolloff said. 

Dolloff was still living at home at the time when he joined the department and said the shared profession made for "some interesting dinner conversation." 

"Overall it turned out to be a very good experience," he said. 

There is a long history of fathers and sons who have worked together at the Stoughton Fire Department, Greg said - the Ledins (Larry and son Jeff); the Carrolls (former Chief Ed and his sons Mike and Tim); the Chipmans (Henry and son Don); the Pecks (Roy and sons Mike and Steve); and the Roach family (former Chief Paul and his son Paul Jr.), just to name a few. Current SFD Lt. Jay McNamara's father, Bill, was a call firefighter for Stoughton. 

For good measure, Greg's grandfather, Charles Justin McCarthy, was a call firefighter for Canton. Justin is named after him. 

Greg said he has coached his son in youth sports before and did not treat him any differently than the other players, and says it will be the same at the fire department. 

"When he works here he'll be treated like anyone else in the department," Greg said.

Justin will join Group 4, which is led by Captain Bob O'Donnell. Greg said O'Donnell helped him along when he first joined the department and now will get the chance to do the same with his son.

Justin will be sworn in at an upcoming meeting of the Stoughton selectmen, along with Jeremiah Fowler, who joined the department in January on a lateral transfer from the Amesbury Fire Department, and Acting Lt. Jay McNamara, who will become a permanent Lt., overseeing EMS operations, Dolloff said.