#Middlebury #JackProulx
By MARJORIE NEEDHAM
Middlebury Fire Marshal Jack Proulx stepped down from that position on March 31, 2022. He had served as the town’s fire marshal more than 40 years. (Submitted photo)
After serving as the Middlebury fire marshal for more than 40 years, Jack Proulx stepped down from that position effective March 31, 2022. His letter of resignation to Middlebury First Selectman Edward B. St. John was accepted at the March 21 Board of Selectmen meeting. St. John also made a motion to appoint Jack’s son, Brian E. Proulx, as acting fire marshal effective April 1, 2022.
St. John said he and Jack have worked together for over 50 years, both at the Middlebury Volunteer Fire Department and in projects for the town. When St. John stepped down as fire chief in 1978, Jack became the new fire chief and also the fire marshal. “He has been my right arm for many years,” St. John said.
St. John said he and Jack worked closely on updating the kitchen at fire headquarters. St. John chaired the committee, but he said Jack was the technician who pulled all the loose ends together and got the project done.
“I will be forever appreciative of all he has done,” St. John said. He said the two worked together for 10 years on the project to build the Tucker Hill MVFD headquarters building and the police, fire and communications building on Southford Road. “We spent many hours coming up with the plans and then going door to door to convince residents to vote for the project,” St. John said.
He said he was glad Jack was staying on as a deputy fire marshal to help with the transition. Noting the Proulx family has been major contributors to the town, he said, “I will be forever indebted to Jack for all he has done for the town over the years. He is a very talented mechanical engineer.”
Leaving his position as fire marshal wasn’t easy for Jack. He said firefighting was a passion of his his whole life. “It’s in my blood,” he said. “In the 40s my dad was a deputy fire chief and instructor in fire training part time for the state. I used to go with him around the state.”
Jack, who just celebrated his 78th birthday, said of giving up the position, “It’s about time. I’m old enough now. I’ve got two bad knees. I’m not in good enough shape to go climbing through buildings or shoveling all the debris out.”
He said the best part of being the fire marshal is you get involved in a lot things. “You know what is going on in town,” he said with a smile.
In addition to investigating fires, the fire marshal has to approve all new construction in town other than one or two-family homes, so that means checking new apartment buildings, warehouses and office buildings and reviewing their plans to make sure they conform to fire codes and will be safe for their occupants.
To keep up with those codes, a fire marshal is required to complete 90 hours of training over each three-year period. Jack will have completed the most recent three-year period on October 2022 and then be certified through October 2025, so he volunteered in his letter of resignation to stay on as a deputy fire marshal to assist in the transition to a new fire marshal.
Four deputy fire marshals have been serving as his assistants: Rich Nicols, Tony Bruno, Tim Baldwin and his son, Brian. Jack said the deputy fire marshals perform a lot of the inspections and also assist in investigations.
He said most fires they investigate are kitchen fires, cases where someone does something like start cooking popcorn on the stove and then walks away and forgets about it.
His advice to residents: Be observant and don’t store things in the oven. Use your appliances the way they say you are to use them and be aware of what you are doing.
He recalled one resident who switched to a gas stove from an electric stove. The homeowner put their pans in the drawer under the oven just as they had done with their electric stove. Unfortunately, that’s where the broiler is in a gas oven. When they turned on the broiler for the first time, they melted all the handles on their pans.
Fires also are started when PVC pipe is placed so it runs over or beside a heat source. The section that gets too hot ignites and burns away, glowing more than flaming, and leaving a gap in the length of pipe. He said burning PVC pipe generates a lot of smoke.
He said smoke is the big danger in a fire. “Smoke kills people,” Jack said. “A couple of big gulps and then you’re gone.” He said that’s why you are told to drop to the floor during a fire. He noted, “Sprinklers save buildings, not lives.”
The biggest fire he had to investigate was the July 3, 2014, fire at the Janesky mansion on Breakneck Hill Road. The outside temperature that day rose to the high 80s, along with high humidity. Inside the 10,000-square-foot home, firefighters struggled to locate the source of the smoke filling the house. The heat, humidity, lack of a nearby water source and the challenges inside the home made for a very difficult day for firefighters.
Jack said as hard as that fire was to fight, it was easy to investigate. Workers had been blowing in foam insulation. Jack explained that foam insulation has an exothermic reaction (gives off heat) as it dries. The workmen blew excess insulation into plastic bags and left. Then heat from the drying insulation started the fire.
Even small fires can have high dollar losses. One was at Timex. He said it started in the middle of the night in a lab where they make chronographic clocks for submarines. Thick black smoke went through the whole building and cleaning up afterwards was costly.
Jack also has had to investigate fires with fatalities, four during his service as fire marshal. He said when fires involve a fatality, the state is called in to help with the investigation.
Jack said he enjoyed serving as the town’s fire marshal for more than 40 years. Because of his position, he got to know a lot of people at the state level and kept up with developments here in Middlebury.
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