Acting Sherborn Fire Chief Buckler Steps Down, Former Chief McPherson Fills Role

Acting Fire Chief Josh Buckler stepped down at the Sherborn Board of Selectmen meeting Thursday night due to personal reasons. The selectmen then appointed former chief Neil McPherson to fill the role while a full-time chief is sought.

“Unfortunately it’s not in the cards for me at this point in my life and I appreciate the selectmen giving me this opportunity it was a great experience for me,” Buckler said.

He thanked the members of the fire department “whose support has been unbelievable.”

Acting Town Administrator Jim Purcell said, “He’s a great citizen of the town. I think he had every intention of being a great chief as well but he has a very young family and he wanted to be a great dad so that makes him a good man.”

After Buckler spoke he received a round of applause from the selectmen and those attending the meeting.

Buckler said that although he is resigning as acting chief he will remain on the department. “Years down the road we might reconsider this but I’m not going very far and I’m looking forward to being back where I was," he said.

The selectmen then appointed former chief Neil McPherson to the role of acting chief.

McPherson was the Sherborn Fire Chief from 2002-2010. Since stepping down as chief there have been two acting chiefs, Jon Dowse and Buckler. McPherson said he would take on the role as acting chief as long as the selectmen plan to find a full-time chief in the meantime.

“I think the realization is that now you’ve had Jon Dowse as an acting chief and you had Josh and now I’m stepping back in. Clearly there’s a message to the town that the town needs to understand that we need to aggressively pursue finding a full-time chief and we need to come up with a permanent solution,” McPherson said. “I am more than willing to step up to the plate with the understanding that the town is going to aggressively pursue hiring a fire chief on a permanent basis.”

Selectmen chair Tom Twining said that they will be convening a committee whose task will be taking the proper steps toward finding a permanent chief.

The selectmen were pleased to have McPherson back in his former role leading the department.

“He has been fire chief and he was outstanding. We love you Neil, you’re great and so I’m delighted that you’re coming back. I can’t say how pleased that makes me personally and I think the whole community has been well served while you were chief. You have this attitude of making sure things get done right,” Selectmen Paul DeRensis said.

In addition to his role as acting chief, McPherson will also take over duties as the Emergency Management Director, Forest Warden and member of the Local Emergency Planning Committee.