Chief Timothy M. Harhen is a 33-year veteran of the East Bridgewater Fire Department. He began his career in the summer of 1990 volunteering to attend training classes held at the Fire Department and was appointed to the call department in February 1991. On March 11, 1996, he was appointed as a career Firefighter/EMT-Basic, became certified as an EMT-Intermediate, and finally as a Paramedic in October 2000. Chief Harhen was appointed as a Lieutenant/Paramedic on December 25, 2001, and served as the department’s Vehicle Maintenance Coordinator and Advanced Life Support Coordinator. On January 1, 2010, he was appointed as the Deputy Fire Chief and was appointed as Acting Fire Chief on April 2, 2012, then Fire Chief on July 1, 2013. Chief Harhen also serves as the Director of Emergency Management, Right-to-Know Law Coordinator, Forest Warden, and Community Emergency Response Coordinator.
Chief Harhen serves as a Liaison Chief for the Plymouth County Technical Rescue Team and is a member of the Major Operations Support Team (MOST) for Plymouth County. He is a past president of the Fire Chiefs Association of Plymouth County. He is a founding member of the Sachem Rock Regional Planning Council with six other towns in the region. The main purpose of the council is to provide shelter for residents after natural disasters and the training of members of the Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT), which are groups of volunteers who volunteer their time to help during disasters and events in the towns that make up the council.
Chief Harhen has been instrumental in being awarded several FEMA Assistance to Firefighters grants and a Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant since 2010 and several MEMA Emergency Management Performance Grants since 2012 and is committed to the advancement of the East Bridgewater Fire Department and East Bridgewater Emergency Management Agency to handle any type of situation which may arise in East Bridgewater or with one of our mutual-aid partners.