BY MATT MACKINDER
Clarkston News Editor

There is a saying that says the third time is the charm.
After Mitch Petterson resigned as Independence Township fire chief in June, Operations Captain Pat Stamper filled in on an interim basis until David Piche was appointed the full-time fire chief on September 7.
Piche retired from the Bloomfield Township Fire Department in 2017 after eight years as the fire chief there and first joined that department in 1985 when he was 22 and worked his way up.
The White Lake resident is now thrilled to be in Independence Township.
“Once the job was listed, I looked at it, I pondered it,” Piche said. “I knew a lot about the community and I kind of knew how the department was operating which was very similar from what I came from. That gave me a comfort knowing that I could come here and jump right in. There were a lot of parts and pieces that were comfortable for me to come out of fire retirement and get back at it.
“I still feel like I have a lot in the tank to give back to the fire service. With my experiences, I wanted to do it again and move forward.”
Even once he left Bloomfield, Piche wasn’t one to sit still for very long.
“I retired in 2017 and over the past three and a half years, I was actually working for Coach (Jim) Harbaugh and the University of Michigan in operations for the football team,” said Piche. “I got laid off last September due to COVID and so I was sitting home from September basically until now and I knew that being home and retired was not for me. Then, this opportunity came about, and I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m ready to get back into it.’
“Getting back in here has almost felt like I was just on a long vacation from the fire department. A lot of it is really the same with a few different nuances from Bloomfield, but honestly, it’s been a smooth transition back into it. The great staff here has really helped me. I guess I was anxious because I didn’t know what it was going to be like coming back four years later, but it’s not really different and has helped me get going to take a look at what we want to do here.”
Piche still works for Michigan, but only during game days for the Wolverines. His day job, though, keeps him busy during the week.
“My adult career has always been in the fire service,” said Piche. “Now, my job is essentially overseeing the complete operation of the fire department, including the operational piece, which is the guys going on runs, putting fires out, dealing with EMS, things like that, and then the administrative piece where you oversee the budget with the business manager (Renee Herbert), future planning, strategic planning for the organization. The community still has room to grow so we have to kind of look out five, ten years and begin those early plans on where this fire department needs to go in terms of size, in terms of if there will be another fire station in the north end. That’s where you have to be the planning piece of what’s going to happen in the future.
“This position is also in charge of emergency management for the whole community. You take point on that for the entire township and coordinate with all the department heads, for example, if a tornado runs through the township, not only is the fire department going to be busy, but the rest of the departments will be, too, so you have to coordinate that group as well.”
And even as the role has gone from Petterson to Stamper and now Piche, the newest chief has his eyes on continuing to make the department a benefit for the township.
“I’m a new face in the position, for sure, but I think it’s more than that,” Piche said. “I’ve already done this, so it’s not like I’m learning to be a fire chief. I’m coming in and kind of looking at everything, the entire operation of what this fire department is doing and am going to analyze each and every piece. As it stands today, is this how the department should be or shouldn’t? What’s working? What’s not? Where do we make improvements? I’m coming in with that clean chalkboard, as it were, and using my experience and background from Bloomfield to apply them up here and question everything we do. If it works well and is a benefit to the community, great. If it hasn’t, obviously we’re going to change it and come up with some solutions to fix it.
“Right now, I’m in that learning phase with everybody to try and understand what’s going on in this organization. I don’t think it’s taking the baton from the last chief here and kind of marching forward with the same thing. Everything is going to be analyzed, especially in the first few months here, to see if this is the best way to service this community and citizens and kind of go from there.”
Along with his wife of 32 years, Renee, the couple has two sons, Joshua, an orthopedic surgeon at the University of Michigan, and Jacob, a firefighter.
“Everyone is local, so that’s great,” Piche said. “We do a lot of boating and love being on the water, boating, skiing, that sort of thing.”
Retired once, Piche said he doesn’t have a timeline in mind as to when he’ll retire again.
“I’ve been asked that a few times,” he said. “I enjoy this, and I enjoy the challenges of being a fire chief. That’s why I’m back. There are challenges, no doubt. I love the fire service. Between those two pieces, I don’t have an ‘X’ on the calendar of when to be done. I’m just not that guy. I’m not ready to sit in a rowboat and fish, you know? I’m not there yet.
“Again, I have a passion and a love for the fire service, and this is a wonderful opportunity with a great community.”

PHOTO: Dave Piche is a retired fire chief from Bloomfield Township and arrived in Independence Township earlier this month. Photo by Matt Mackinder