Claremont — Fire Chief Rick Bergeron will retire at the end of the year after 40 years with the department.

City Manager Ryan McNutt announced Bergeron’s retirement in a news release on Friday.

“I am reluctant to retire because I love this job and working with the team we have at the department,” the 65-year-old Bergeron said in the release. “It is time to allow others to move into leadership, but I will miss this every day.”

Bergeron was hired as an on-call firefighter in 1972 and joined the department in July 1977. He served as a lieutenant, assistant chief and deputy chief before becoming chief in 2011 following the retirement of Chief Peter Chase.

McNutt said in the release that some major projects and initiatives that saved tax dollars and improved performance and safety under Bergeron include Claremont’s receipt of a SAFER grant that allowed the city to hire additional firefighters with no tax rate impact, modernization of a wireless fire alarm system and a grant for an emergency generator at the community center.