Chiefs of the Fire Department

The following have served as Chief of the Washington Volunteer Fire Department and later, when EMS was formed and combined as a division of the Fire Department, the Chief headed both divisions. The Chief was elected by the voters at the annual Town Meeting until 2021, when a vote of Town Meeting changed the position from elected to appointed by the Selectmen following a Fire Department committee search and recommendation. 

* notes deceased

Abner Barker*              1939 - 1945
William Otterson, Sr*   1946
Earl B. Cilley*               1947 - 1948
Wilfred Wheeler*          1949 - 1953
Earl B. Cilley*               1953 - 1956
Robert W. Crane*         1957 - 1958
Charles E. Dalphond*  1959 - 1962
Wendell Ashley*           1963 - 1965
Abner Barker*               1965
Karl Jurson*                  1966
Harry Hadaway*           1967 - 1972
Charles E. Dalphond*  1972 - 1986
Robert J. Wright           1987 - 2002
John R. Eccard             2002 - 2008
Brian P. Moser               2008 - 2016
David Defosse               2016 - 2018 
Shawn Atkins                2018 - 2019
Brian P. Moser               2019 - 2020
Shawn Atkins                2020 - 2021
Shawn Atkins                2021 Appointed Chief