SmithfieldPatch Meets... Fire Chief Robert Seltzer

On Sept. 4, Smithfield Town Manager Dennis Finley formally appointed Robert Seltzer to the post of Smithfield Fire Chief, following Seltzer's 35-year career in Coventry.

Seltzer replaced former Chief Joseph Mollo, who retired earlier this year after a serving as chief for a decade.

During a recent interview at fire department headquarters, Seltzer explained why he decided to pursue the chief's job in Smithfield, recalled some of his experiences in Coventry, and compared the two communities in terms of the approach to fire and rescue services.

What made you decide to apply for the job in Smithfield?

I had some interest in looking at a municipal fire department; where I worked was fire districts, and I was interested in working in one fire department that served the entire community.

I saw the opening, and I saw that Chief Mollo was retiring, and actually a few of the firefighters here asked if I would be intersted in applying, and I thought about it, and I wound up applying.

What was the process like?

There was a panel that interviewed the finalists, so you sat through that process, and after that, the panel recommended to the town manager, and then the town manager did the final interview and made the final selection.

You served on the committee that selected Tim McLaughlin for fire chief of Johnston; what was it like to be a candidate?

It was nerve-wracking, not being on that side of the table in a long time. I hadn't interviewed for a job in probably 30 years.

What were some of the more memorable situations you had in Coventry?

We had a lot of incidents occur there, probably the biggest event I was ever involved with was going over to West Warwick for the Station Nightclub Fire and assisting with that.

We had some pretty good-sized searches we had to conduct [and] probably the most significant fire that I was in charge of was when Suburban Propane caught on fire several years back — that was probably one of the more exciting ones, because if something went wrong, it would have been something disastrous.

How has the response been from people you've met in Smithfield?

The staff here is great, they've welcomed with open arms, [and] the community has, too — I've been having a ball. It's a really good group of firefighters, they're very interested in moving the department forward, and they really want to get involved, so it's been an absolute pleasure working on projects with them.

How do the two towns compare to each other?

The two communities are actually very similar to each other — each of them has it built-up areas and its rural areas. The population of Coventry is a little big greater, however, when you look at Smithfield — particularly when Bryant University is in session, I'll bet you there's 35,000 people during in Smithfield because of everyone coming to work and school.

There are definitely some similarities, which made it a little bit more comfortable coming here, but I think, overall, there's a lot more responsibilities here — there's a lot going on in this town, which makes this exciting.

Know someone who'd be good for SmithfieldPatch to meet? Send your suggestions to Editor Joe Hutnak at joseph.hutnak@patch.com