New fire chief for Patterson: Boudreaux succeeds Martin

By Zachary Fitzgerald
zfitzgerald@daily-review.com
On Tuesday, outgoing Patterson Volunteer Fire Chief Sherel Martin passed the torch to new chief Eric Boudreaux. Both men have been volunteer firefighters since their teenage years.
Boudreaux, 46, a native and resident of Patterson, has been a volunteer firefighter since age 17 and has served as assistant chief for the past three years under Martin. Boudreaux works as the yard manager at InterMoor in Morgan City.
At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, the council approved Mayor Rodney Grogan’s recommendation of Boudreaux as fire chief and Scott Domingue as assistant chief. Domingue has also served as volunteer firefighter since high school.
Grogan commended Martin and other fire department personnel for the great job they have done to ensure the department stayed committed and moving forward.
“Volunteers and people doing things without compensation is hard to come by, and to have at least 40 on your program, Patterson is fortunate. The surrounding areas are fortunate,” Grogan said.
The department has 35 active firefighters and a total of 45 “long-term members,” Martin said.
After eight years as Patterson Fire Chief and meeting goals he set for the department, Martin, 48, decided it was time to let someone else lead the department. Martin has been with the department since age 15 and plans to remain a volunteer firefighter, he said. Martin called firefighting his “first love.”
When Martin was appointed, among his goals were to upgrade the department’s technology, he said. In his transition to becoming chief, the department bought one truck and another two trucks while he was chief, Martin said. Both former Mayor Mike Accardo and Grogan supported him in the effort to get new trucks and equipment, Martin said.
Patterson has four pumper trucks, one service truck and one airport crash truck designated specifically for use at the airport.
Boudreaux said it’s difficult to compete with what Martin has done.
The biggest challenge for Boudreaux is to keep lowering the department’s fire rating as Martin has done, Boudreaux said. The department will be rated next year, and lower fire ratings mean lower insurance costs for Patterson residents, he said.
Boudreaux wants to make sure firefighters continue to have the quality equipment they need. Boudreaux enjoys serving his community, he said.
Patterson’s fire department consists entirely of volunteers and doesn’t have any paid personnel, Boudreaux said.
“We don’t have someone working here every day like a paid department,” Boudreaux said.
Therefore, keeping all the equipment maintained and running is also a challenge, he said.
The department is looking to eventually get a new station, Boudreaux said.
Though firefighters often don’t get much recognition, Martin always told his firefighters that as long as everybody didn’t get hurt in a fire, “that was a good day,” Martin said.
Once Martin got the department “in probably the best shape it’s been in,” he felt it was time for someone else to be chief, he said.
Boudreaux said, “I’m only as good as the firemen underneath me so we’ll have to keep the training going.”