NEWPORT – The search is on in Newport for a new fire chief. Stating they wanted to “go in a new direction,” the town’s Board of Selectmen did not renew veteran Fire Chief Charles Erickson’s contract last week.

Erickson, who has held the chief’s position for nearly 15 years, except for 1993, has had his contract annually renewed by the selectmen. Many years ago, the firefighters voted in their chief and then presented their choice to the board for ratification and appointment.

But Town Manager James Ricker explained Tuesday that the old system was abandoned years ago in favor of the annual contract. Ricker recommended the contract not be renewed and the board agreed.

Erickson could not be reached Tuesday for comment about losing his position.

Ricker said Assistant Chief Fred Hickey was appointed interim chief last Wednesday while the position is advertised, first in-house and then outside.

Ricker said the move was prompted by “dozens of phone calls” received by town selectmen from firefighters who said they were disenchanted with the way the Fire Department was being managed and they wanted a change.

At a meeting last week to discuss the issue with selectmen, five firefighters out of 34 attended and only two spoke in favor of Erickson, Ricker said.

The last time the Fire Department saw a shake-up was in 1993 when the Newport Taxpayers Association controlled the voting on the Board of Selectmen. Erickson was not reappointed that year, and a new policy was proposed that would have split the department into two entities, a fire department and a rescue service, with separate leaders.

Ricker said that in the 12 years since that proposal, which was not adopted, “the whole medical services response industry has changed.”

He said that 76 percent of all calls to the Newport Fire Department are medical calls. These range from helping Sebasticook Valley Ambulance lift a patient, to responding to serious traffic accidents.

Newport has 34 firefighters and 14 emergency medical technicians, all on “paid volunteer” status. This means they get paid for training and fire and rescue calls but are not required to report to a fire or medical call.

“Most of our firefighters have full-time jobs,” Ricker said. “And most employers are small businesses.” He said this can cause recruitment and retainment problems.

“Why would you want to leave a $15 an hour job to get $6 an hour?” he asked. “In some cases, firefighters are docked the hours they are on a rescue call. In other cases, they must work overtime to make up their hours. Some days, there are four or five rescue calls. It’s a real problem.”

For the town, Ricker said, there is also no financial incentive with the rescue unit. “We do not bill for our services,” he said

Ricker said the decision not to rehire Erickson “was never made to hurt the morale of the Fire Department. We are just going in a new direction.”