Aaron Bradbury (left) accepts the chief helmet from former Nobleboro Fire Chief Matthew Kilpatrick on Wednesday, Dec. 3. Bradbury, who served as interim chief from November 2023 to May 2024 and then as deputy chief since August of this year, takes the reins once again as Nobleboro fire chief. (Christina Wallace photo)
Aaron Bradbury, who previously served as interim chief and deputy chief of the Nobleboro Fire Department, was officially appointed to the chief position during a select board meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 3 after the resignation of Matthew Kilpatrick.
“I really appreciate the work Matt has done,” Bradbury said. “He’s adjusted to a less than ideal situation and has done an excellent job of keeping it going … so now I’m going to take over as chief and I’m very excited to do that.”
A Nobleboro native, Bradbury started his firefighting career in Massachusetts, working full time for the Newton Fire Department and then the Lynn Fire Department.
He left Massachusetts in 2016 to return to Maine and went on to work for the Maine National Guard on the civil support team for four years.
Bradbury joined the Nobleboro Fire Department in 2019, becoming a lieutenant in 2021 and then a captain in 2022.
After spending a year oversees with his wife from August 2024 to August 2025, Bradbury returned to the department as deputy chief in September of this year.
Bradbury previously held the position on an interim basis from November 2023 to May 2024 after the termination of Fire Chief Richard “Moose” Genthner. Bradbury was succeeded by Kevin Rawley, who served as fire chief for seven months before Kilpatrick was sworn in on Dec. 5, 2024.
Kilpatrick submitted a letter of resignation to the Nobleboro Select Board in November, which stated that his last day would be Thursday, Dec. 4. He cited work obligations and desire for ongoing education as his reasons for resigning.
“I’m a full-time firefighter paramedic for the city of Augusta, so I’m kind of taking a step back because I want to take some more classes, whether they’re fire, EMS, or going for my (associate) degree,” Kilpatrick said. “I can’t commit to trainings while being in this position currently, so it’s a little bit of a time management thing.”
Kilpatrick said he will remain on the department as a volunteer firefighter.
During the select board meeting, member Richard Spear recognized Kilpatrick for his service as fire chief.
“You’ve been on just a year now, and you’ve done a great job,” Spear said.
Going forward, Bradbury hopes to expand Nobleboro’s emergency medical services by increasing the number of licensed Emergency medical technicians working on the department, and strengthen firefighter training.
“We have four licensed EMTs, and we have two that are ready to test. If we can get to the point where we have six EMTs, that will be more than we’ve ever had before, which is great because the majority of our calls are medical calls,” Bradbury said. “I’d love to get more and more people to go to the EMS programs.”
In his free time, Bradbury said he enjoys woodworking and owns a vineyard and winery in Nobleboro called The Barracks at Oyster Creek.
The next select board meeting will be at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 17, at the town office. For more information, call 563-8816 or go to nobleboro.maine.gov.
