Another former Providence fire chief is returning to his old department.
Michael J. Dillon, who served in the fire department for 39 years before retiring as acting chief in 2013, is being hired to oversee day-to-day operations following the retirement of asst. Chief Scott Mello.
Dillon’s official title will be operations chief and he’ll be paid on a per diem basis, according to Public Safety Commissioner Steven Pare. In a similar role, Mello earned $108,000 annually. Payroll records show Dillon earns $6,520 per month from his service pension. He is eligible to continue receiving his pension check because a city ordinance allows pension recipients to work 75 full days or 150 half days per calendar year.
Dillon is the second former fire chief to return to the department this year.
In November, ex-Chief George Farrell was brought in as a consultant as part of the administration’s effort to crack down on what it claimed was an unprecedented abuse on injuries on the job following Elorza’s decision to restructure the fire department from four to three platoons.