Congratulations To Medfield's New Fire Chief William DeKing III

Congratulations To Medfield's New Fire Chief, William DeKing III

On Tuesday, May 13th, in the Medfield Town House 2nd floor Chenery Hall, MFD Capt. William DeKing III was sworn in as the new Chief of the Medfield Fire Department in front of Select Board Chair Gus Murby, Select Board Members Pete Peterson and Eileen Murphy, Town Administrator Kristine Trierweiler, Deputy Fire Chief David O’Toole, other members of the MFD, DeKing's wife Megan, his daughter Lillian, his parents, his brother, his in-laws and others….Chenery Hall was filled to the brim.

Town Clerk, Marion Bonoldi, officiated the swearing in, and Chief Bill’s father, William DeKing Jr., proudly affixed the pin on his son’s lapel.

Medfield’s new Fire Chief comes from a family of firefighters. His Dad, William, Jr., is the acting 34-year Fire Chief in Bridgewater, NY, and Bill’s brother, Eric is the Assistant Chief in the same town. All three of the DeKing firefighters were attired in dress uniforms.

When asked if Bill always wanted to be a firefighter, he said, no. He originally planned to become a nurse and after 3 years of study at Hartwick College in New York, he realized that wasn’t really what he wanted to do so he moved on. However, he met his future wife Megan at Hartwick College. Megan grew up in Massachusetts so they decided to move here in 2001 where they settled and stayed! Bill and Megan have been happily married for 22 years now.

DeKing worked as a 911 Dispatcher in the Town of Wellesley from September 2001 – January 2005 and was also an on-call member of the Medway Fire Dept during that time.

On May 12th, one day before DeKing was sworn in as Chief of MFD in Medfield, he celebrated another momentous occasion. He graduated from Anna Maria College with a Bachelors Degree in Fire Science and his personal goal is to continue his education and receive his Masters in Fire Science as well.

The Medfield Fire Department employs 17 Full-time and 11 Call firefighters. When Chief Carrico retired in late April and DeKing was promoted from Captain to Chief, the department was needed to hire one more firefighter to complete the force. They are now in that process of filling one vacant spot.

DeKing was hired by the Medfield Fire Department in 2005, along with MFD Capt. Neil Kingsbury, Capt. Scott Donahue and the late Capt. Michael Harman.

DeKing is beginning to settle into his new office, and he already has a few family photos on display. His personal favorite is a photo of his adorable daughter Lillian standing in front of a fire truck when she was only 2 years old. He also has a very recent photo of his wife and his daughter standing on either side of him just after his Anna Maria College graduation on May 12th.

When asked what his goals are in this new role, and he said his plans are to have the department become more community focused going forward. He spoke highly of the young firefighters on the force and intends on getting them more involved in tasks and leadership roles, and most definitely putting their own spin on them. Since 2021 DeKing was the Fire Prevention Captain, so he is familiar with community involvement and has visited many of the Medfield schools and the seniors in town at The Center. In addition to community involvement, Chief DeKing is encouraging his force to get more training, more certification and more education in fire science, para-medicine, or any kind of higher education learning.

“I’m looking forward to the opportunity to do this job. I’m always looking to improve what I do and I have a real connection with the people in this town and appreciate all their assistance”, MFD Chief Bill DeKing, III.