(Additional photographs below.)
For the first time in at least many years, the Haverhill Fire Department is enjoying the beginnings of a surge in new recruits—both to replace retiring firefighters and fill 16 new federally funded positions. Mayor Melinda E. Barrett and Fire Chief Robert M. O’Brien late Thursday afternoon presided over the swearing in of two new recruits and three others being promoted. Assistant City Clerk Rose Leonard-Flynn administered the oath to officers Capt. Thomas Helps and Lts. Evan Kelleher and Robert Miles and Firefighters Paxton Lee and Nicholas O’Neil who graduate today from the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy. O’Brien was beaming.