From volunteer to top job: Bluffton’s new fire chief was just following orders
When the new Bluffton Township Fire District chief, Paul Boulware, joined the department 30 years ago, it was on a whim.
In fact, when he first volunteered in January 1991, he didn’t mean to become a firefighter at all.
“My grandma said to go volunteer because they needed people to go and help out,” Boulware said. “When grandma asks you to do something, you follow through.”
Fast forward three decades and Boulware has become one of the first three Battalion Chiefs to be promoted and took the helm of the fire district in December after a ceremony to say goodbye to his predecessor, Chief John Thompson Jr.
“It’s definitely heartfelt and emotional thinking about where I started to being the leader of the organization,” Boulware said at the ceremony which saw dozens upon dozens of firefighters and their families crowd the bay of Station 38 on Raider Drive.
Thompson, who had been chief since December 2013, told the Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette that he is retiring from the fire district after 38 years to be closer to family.
“It means a lot to have worked with these guys,” Thompson told the Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette. “Beaufort County is lucky to have the level of fire and EMS personnel it has.”
Looking forward to the work ahead of him, Boulware said recruitment and retention are at the top of his mind. He hopes to implement three new stations over the next three to 10 years. In that time, he also aims to have 200 paid employees. Currently, the department has 168, according to Boulware. The chiefs before him, have “laid the foundation ... for a growing department” that he intends to keep up.
“Being part of their administration, I’m in tune to carrying on the groundwork that’s already there,” he said. “I want to be ... a good steward to taxpayers’ dollars.”
This story was originally published January 2, 2023 at 6:00 AM.
