NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, January 8, 2026
Kirsten Hildonen
Administrative Services Director
(603) 421-1353<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Londonderry Welcomes James R. Young Jr. as New Fire Chief<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n LONDONDERRY, N.H. \u2013 The Town of Londonderry is proud to announce the appointment of Chief Young has served as Fire Chief and Emergency Management Director for the Town of Beyond his technical expertise, Chief Young is recognized for his collaborative approach to Reflecting Londonderry\u2019s commitment to community-focused leadership, Chief Young is driven to No stranger to New Hampshire, the Young family already regularly enjoys the region\u2019s outdoor The Town extends its gratitude to all who participated in the selection process and to Assistant <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" NEWS RELEASEFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEThursday, January 8, 2026Kirsten HildonenAdministrative Services Director(603) 421-1353 Londonderry Welcomes James R. Young Jr. as New Fire Chief LONDONDERRY, N.H. \u2013 The Town of Londonderry is proud to announce the appointment ofJames R. Young Jr. as its new Fire Chief, effective February 17, 2026. With more than…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/townunderground.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/townunderground.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/townunderground.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townunderground.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townunderground.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11245"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/townunderground.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11245\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11246,"href":"https:\/\/townunderground.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11245\/revisions\/11246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/townunderground.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townunderground.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townunderground.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
James R. Young Jr. as its new Fire Chief, effective February 17, 2026. With more than twentyseven years of distinguished service in the Massachusetts Fire Service, Chief Young brings a
wealth of experience, leadership, and a deep commitment to public safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Orange, Massachusetts since 2015. His tenure is marked by notable achievements, including
securing federal and state grants to modernize emergency apparatus and equipment and
implementing advancements that reduced the town\u2019s Insurance Services Office (ISO) rating,
resulting in significant savings for residents and businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
labor\/management relations, budget development, and strategic planning. He has authored
successful grants funding millions of dollars in improvements, overseen an Advance Life Support
transporting ambulance service for four communities, and drafted policies that keep departments
responsive and resilient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
find innovative, forward-thinking ways to constantly improve the quality of the service his
department provides to its citizens. He is currently working toward a Master\u2019s in Fire
Administration and pursuing further professional accreditation as a Chief Fire Officer from the
Center for Public Safety Excellence, while serving in multiple professional associations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
activities, including fishing and hiking. Chief Young, his wife, and his four children are excited to
relocate to southern New Hampshire and become part of the Londonderry Fire community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chief Fred Heinrich and Deputy Chief Phil LeBlanc for their leadership as Acting Fire Chief during
the search process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n