Swift Current City Fire Chief Denis Pilon's last day on the job is Friday, and his replacement will be an internal one.

Darren McClelland was one of two deputy fire chiefs, and will be the next to take over the role Pilon is moving on from.

Pilon said he's happy to have the promotion come from within.

"I've worked with Darren since I came here 10 years ago. He's an internal candidate who's worked his way up, and done a fantastic job," Pilon said.

Since Pilon moved to Swift Current he's worked on training people on the City's fire department for advancement.

"One of the things I was really pushing when I took over was to build a succession plan and to get people trained and qualified to take over the deputy positions and the chief positions," he said. "We have a number of people who are highly qualified now, and I think we've accomplished what we've set out to do. Being able to see somebody internally promoted is basically where I wanted to go. I didn't want to see somebody outside coming in. I wanted to see that we could promote the people from within and that we could support them throughout their career."

City CAO Tim Marcus was in charge of the hiring, and Pilon said he was happy to not be part of the hiring process, as he wouldn't be working with his replacement. He'll be moving to Regina to be closer to family.

McClelland joined the department in 1995 as an auxiliary, took on a full-time position in 1997, and became deputy chief in 2013.

Now a process will commence to fill McClelland's role as deputy fire chief along with Peter l'Heureux.