Representatives of businesses with the Belleville Chamber of Commerce were able to hear from the city's new fire chief for the first time.

Dan Smith shared all of what the fire department had to offer to the community during the monthly Chamber breakfast on Wednesday.

Smith outlined the various elements of the fire department, its services and how it operates as a business in the community.

He told the gathering all of the items Belleville fire and emergency services is focusing on, such as core services, upgrading the fleet of fire trucks by two, working on a fire and emergency management strategies and a master fire plan and adding more staff.

Smith said he learned early on in his time with Belleville Fire that there had not been any substantial staffing increases within the department since the 1960s.

"This city has grown a lot since the 60s," he observed.

"We want to focus on our people to provide better service to the community and to protect our staff. They do some pretty dangerous things and we want to make sure we have enough resources to do that."

Similar to Belleville Police's staffing increases, Smith outlined there will be gradual additions made to their complement of firefighters over the next few years, starting in December of this year and the following two Novembers after.

"We're really willing a more robust team to provide further outreach, better service to our community, and provide a safer workplace for our staff," he explained.

Another huge step for the department, Smith said, is the addition of a new supervisory position - a platoon chief.

"That is to provide more leadership and oversight during large scale emergencies."

Smith said that position will be in place for this December.

The fire chief also elaborated on a recent change to 9-1-1 dispatch services, which have moved from Belleville to Peterborough.

"They're doing the same job. They know who we are they know who to call on, which station it is and what resources are required," Smith assured.

"What that's enabling us to do is save huge dollars with this technological change. We can take that money, and reinvest it back into the primary response to the citizens of Belleville.

Smith finished by stating they are looking to build on their new firefighter certification program and continue with community partnerships.