By John Walk
The York Dispatch
YORK, Pa. — Treat everyone equally. Don’t do things behind closed doors. Try to make everything enjoyable.
Those are the philosophies that West York Borough Fire Chief Neil Gunnet said he believes in.
And since Gunnet took over as interim chief of the West York Borough Fire Department in November, he said, those philosophies have been the reason he’s been able to maintain a good morale among the borough’s firefighters.
“I’ve had plenty of guys come up to me already and tell me, ‘Everything that you said you were going to do when you came in, you’ve done it,’” Gunnet said.
Gunnet’s interim tag was taken off last week when the West York borough council voted to make him the official fire chief.
And now Gunnet said he has plenty of other goals in mind.
Among them are getting 25 percent of the borough’s 30 firefighters state certified in fire training by the end of this year and improving the borough’s relationship with surrounding fire departments.
Background: Since graduating from Spring Grove Area High School in 1987 and serving four years in the Air Force until 1991, Gunnet has worked as a volunteer firefighter for numerous fire companies in York and Franklin Counties.
More recently, Gunnet has been serving as a volunteer firefighter for West York Borough since 2007 while also working as a full-time firefighter for the Letterkenny Army Depot Fire Department in Chambersburg, Franklin County.
Gunnet, a third-generation firefighter, also uses his knowledge as a state certified fire instructor — a designation he earned in 2005 — to teach fire training at programs in York, Adams, Franklin and Lancaster counties.
Those qualifications made the West York Borough Council feel comfortable in the decision to appoint Gunnet as the borough’s next fire chief, borough council president Brian Wilson said.
“I’ve known Neil probably for over a year now. And knowing all the credentials he has, I feel very confident in him leading the fire department,” Wilson said.
Gunnet, 41, is taking over for former fire chief Shane Feeser, who resigned from the position in November.
Gunnet said he is only getting paid on a “part-time base salary,” which Wilson said “is probably a little under $100 a month.”
Despite the pay, Gunnet said he’ll still be able to financially support himself and his family — which includes his wife, and his two daughters, ages 14 and 21 — because he will continue to work full time for the fire department in Chambersburg.
“And that won’t conflict with West York because when there’s a fire call in the borough there is a chain of command that will put an assistant chief in charge,” he said.
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