New fire chief takes his place

The new Havre fire chief, Tim Hedges, was sworn in at the Havre City Council meeting Tuesday, officially replacing outgoing chief Dave Sheppard.

Tim Hedges, 53, said he is extremely excited to take his new position.

He has been a part of the Havre Fire Department for 28 years and has worked at every level, including being a emergency medical technician, a firefighter and, most recently, assistant fire chief.

Before he began work at the fire station, he had just graduated from Northern Montana College with a teaching degree and was in the hunt for a teaching position.

"There was an opening here at the fire department, so I decided to apply and I got an opportunity to work down here," Hedges said. "I don't regret a minute of it. It's been a great job and it's still a great job. I look forward to coming to work every morning."

He worked under Sheppard for four years as the assistant fire chief.

"I'm pretty fortunate - the fire department's pretty fortunate that it's in good shape," Hedges said. "The chief prior to myself did a great job and the men we have are well-qualified and experienced."

He said that since the former chief has the department running smoothly, his base priority is to maintain the same quality the force has had in recent years.

"Of course, I've got wish lists like any chief would, to improve some of the equipment and updates some of the trucks, but we'll try to do that through time," he said. "I'm just looking forward to getting going and working with the men."

He said Sheppard left the department covered and while he worked under him, he learned a lot from him.

Hedges was born and raised in Havre and has a family - two sons and a daughter. He and his wife have been married for 32 years. One of his sons lives in Chester with his wife, and the other lives in North Carolina attending college. His daughter, Hope, is a fourth-grade school teacher in Havre.

He said he also has two grandchildren who he is very proud of.