For the first time in more than three decades, there is new leadership at the Warren Fire Department’s Narragansett Fire Co. #3.

Long-time Captain Vincent P. Calenda was officially succeeded by fellow volunteer Ken McPhillips at a company meeting Tuesday, March 1. He will serve until a new slate of officers is officially sworn in at the company’s 170th annual meeting Tuesday, April 5.

“It was time,” Capt. Calenda said Thursday. “I’ve been doing this for 30-plus years. Volunteer fire companies are very, very  fragile. And the bottom line is that if I don’t (retire), nobody moves. I’ve got younger members who want to be officers and they deserve their chance.

Apart from incoming Capt. McPhillips, Ed Cabral was made first lieutenant, and Elvis DaCamara and Adam Cabral, Mr. Cabral’s son, were each named second lieutenant.

Capt. Calenda, a Rhode Island College political science and history major, joined the Narragansetts as a 16-year-old, in June 1973. At the time, the company was the only one in Warren that would allow such a young member to join. He became a full time member at 18, made lieutenant in 1981 and captain in 1983.

Fire fighting is in his blood. Apart from his service to the WFD, he is a fire investigator in private practice and is often called upon to provide expert testimony in cases before the Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts and federal court systems.

Though he loves the work, there’s one thing he won’t miss about being captain:

“I’m not going to miss getting up at 5 a.m. to reset the fire alarm at Kentucky Fried Chicken or somewhere else,” he said. “It isn’t going to happen.”

Note: After his interview, Capt. Calenda said he wanted to thank all members of the department, especially the Narragansetts, as well as the late Warren Fire Chief John C. Conley Jr., the late Assistant Chief Donald “Buck” Sarasin, and current Fire Chief Alexander Galinelli, for their support over the years.