Richard Martin was appointed as the new fire chief for Gustine Fire Department, the city announced on Feb.27.

Martin, who previously served as the department’s assistant chief, is the successor to the previous fire chief, Patrick Borrelli. Borrelli, who has been with the department for more than 40 years, with the last 16 as fire chief, announced his resignation at a Gustine City Council meeting on Feb.4.

The move became official during the department's monthly meeting on Feb.24, where discussions about various roles within the department were finalized. A month before the February meeting, Martin was selected by his peers to become Borrelli’s successor.

“To be the Gustine Fire Chief, I mean, the city is in your hands,” Martin said about the opportunity. “It was a huge honor to not only be nominated that the guys in the fire department thought that highly of me that I could be the fire chief, but also to be elected the fire chief.”

When Martin’s transition to fire chief became official in the February meeting, Borrelli shook his hand, congratulated him and gave Martin his badge. For Borrelli, it was a moment of passing down the torch from one fire chief to another.

“He always stepped up to help do some of the stuff that I needed to get done,” Borrelli said about Martin.

Not everyone’s journey is the same, but Martin’s was unique. Before joining the department, the Los Banos native was in the United States Marine Corps for eight years. During those eight years, he was stationed in Hawaii and deployed in East Asia. When it was time for Martin to reenlist himself, he wanted to transfer to another job. However, due to no job openings that he desired at the time, Martin was left with the options of remaining in service, being discharged or trying something different.

Martin had his sights set on pursuing a different opportunity. In February 2002, he was honorably discharged, meaning that a service member faithfully did their job to the fullest extent and is considered amongst the highest honors.

Seven years later, Martin decided to get involved with the Gustine’s Fire Department and was officially a part of the department in 2010 following his training. Afterwards, Martin realized he liked being involved with the Emergency Medical Services (EMS). This prompted him to go to EMT school to become a licensed Emergency Medical Technician (EMT).

This was a far cry from the profession that Martin had in mind growing up: a police officer. That goal never came to fruition due to multiple circumstances at the time.

“My dream job was to become a police officer, but it was never in the cards for me,” Martin recalled. “It was just one of those things where budget cuts and every time that I tried to go do something, they weren’t hiring, everybody was actually releasing. The agencies were actually laying off officers, so they weren’t hiring.”

Martin later served multiple roles within the department, including training captain and assistant chief before his promotion.

As Martin reflects on what helped lead him to where he is today, one of the things he considers his biggest life lesson that was learned during his time in the Marine Corps.

“If you want something strong enough, you don’t stop and you don’t give up on it. Marines never give up. And we basically, as they say in the Marine Corps, ‘You charge on until you have reached the goal,’” Martin recalled. “It’s always been a drive for me to succeed and to do what I had myself out to do.”

Now at the helm of the department, Martin hopes to continue what Borrelli built, which consisted of maintaining relationships with multiple agencies that the department works with and people in the city of Gustine. 

“How well known his relationships with everybody and [the] different agencies that he has built over time. I want to keep that. I don’t want that to go away,” Martin said.

He also wants to bring an EMS program to Gustine with the hopes of helping students get an idea about the professions within EMS.

“Maybe this fire service is something they’re looking at … and have them at the station learning what it is to be a firefighter, learning what it is to help people and community service and how important that is,” Martin said. “Hopefully, if we can achieve that, maybe we can start obtaining permanent volunteers and permanent staff to help the community.”

Navtej Hundal is a freelance journalist in Stanislaus County