WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Twenty-four applicants from as far away as California applied to be the town's next fire chief, the Prudential Committee learned on Wednesday.

 

By the end of next month, one of those applicants could be named the replacement for retiring Chief Craig Pedercini.

 

At Wednesday's meeting of the committee, which oversees the fire district, member Joe Beverly, who also serves on the district's Personnel Committee, reported that the latter body had reviewed two dozen applicants who sought to lead the call-volunteer department.

 

On Thursday, Beverly said, the Personnel Committee will interview six applicants from that pool.

 

The hiring screening committee hopes to be able to present two or three finalists to the Prudential Committee to interview at its Feb. 26 meeting, Beverly said.

 

"We were all very satisfied with the number [of applicants]," he said. "We all had a chance to review them ourselves and pick out the top six or seven. We met last week and narrowed down the list. We're doing six interviews tomorrow, and then we'll whittle down to a second round [of interviews]."

 

The final interviews by the Prudential Committee, the hiring authority for the department's chief, likely will be conducted without one of the elected members of the body.