W. PATERSON, N.J. - During W. Paterson's Wednesday evening, January 4, town council meeting, Paul Salomone Jr. was sworn in as Chief of the W. Paterson Fire Dept. Chief Salomone’s service as a volunteer has spanned over 30 years with the all-volunteer department. At the age of 18 he joined the department, but was already responding to alarms with his father for many years prior to becoming a regular member. Once old enough, he joined as a member of Engine Co. #3, located on Rifle Camp Road in the borough. Rising up through the ranks of lieutenant and captain, he held the position of assistant chief for 15 years as one of three assistant chiefs that serve the department. In December 2006, he was elected to the position of Chief of the Department in an uncontested vote, following the retirement of Joeseph Maccones who served the department in that role for the last six years. The department is made up of three companies, with about 75 members. Chief Salomone stated, “What I hope I can do for the department is build upon the strides made by Chief Maccones and previous Chief Jack Wittig”. Following in his father's footsteps, Paul Sr. was chief between 1972 and 1977. Chief Salomone added, “He was probably my biggest inspiration in becoming a volunteer firefighter”. One of the things Salomone wants to build upon will be things such as equipment upgrades and specialized training. “We’re heavily involved in training our people and we’ve recently received quite an influx of young people looking to become junior members”, Salomone said. “We're constantly looking to recruit new people, and on occasion it actually becomes a career choice for them. We’ve recently had one of our female fire fighters move on to become a full-time fire fighter in Paterson”. The most important message Salomone would like to send out is how worthwhile being a volunteer fire fighter can be. “It’s a great experience helping residents in your community. You get to work with a lot of different people, and the time you spend together in traning and going out on a call time-after-time tends to make all volunteers in the department feel like they belong to a family. It’s a very truly rewarding experience”.