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By David Lovell

The Greenville Lions’ club welcomed new Greenville Fire Chief Douglas Belletete to town Monday at its weekly meeting. Belletete described his work in emergency services in Alabama before his career took him as far away as Djibouti, Africa. 

“I started my career in Decatur and worked there for 15 years. Then the opportunity presented itself to work for the Department of Defense as a firefighter and EMT in Iraq,” Belletete explained.

It was this experience that led Belletete to spend nine years as fire captain in Djibouti before a series of medical emergencies brought him home to Alabama and then to Ellsworth, Maine before he accepted the vacant fire chief position in Greenville.

“My goal is to do the best job I can for the citizens of Greenville,” Belletete said. “I have always believed in whatever organization I was with was to leave it better than you found it.” 

Belletete also explained that he is currently evaluating the department to see what its needs are and is impressed with what he has encountered so far. 

“Greenville has a fantastic department and has a group of well dedicated personnel,” he said.

Belletete said he is excited to get involved in the Greenville community and has also encouraged his personnel to be more visible around town. He has relocated to Greenville with his wife of 28 years, Dena, and two of their three children.