For 25 years, Fred Doucette worked inside Salem's fire service before carrying the same commitment to public duty into the New Hampshire State House and FEMA's New England office. Doucette, a U.S. Navy veteran, retired fire lieutenant and six-term Republican lawmaker, died on July 28, 2026, at 61.

His public-service record reached back to the Navy, where he served as a corpsman. Salem hired Frederick G. Doucette as a firefighter on February 2, 1987, and gave him badge number 124. He became a paramedic and rose into station leadership. When he retired on January 31, 2012, the Town of Salem listed his rank as lieutenant and station officer. The dates bracketed almost exactly a quarter-century in the department.

The next long chapter took place in Concord. Doucette began serving in the New Hampshire House in 2014 and ultimately served during six terms representing Salem. His colleagues elevated him through assistant majority leader and deputy majority leader before he reached speaker pro tempore. The New Hampshire Republican Party said those posts reflected the trust he earned through steady leadership and attention to his constituents.

His appointment as speaker pro tempore came near the close of 2024. In announcing the House leadership team for the coming session, Speaker Sherman Packard placed Doucette alongside the chamber's other senior officers. The position gave a former first responder responsibility for helping direct the House's work.

Doucette also became a familiar organizer in New Hampshire's presidential primary. He co-chaired Donald Trump's campaigns in the state in 2016 and 2020. In 2023 he joined Vivek Ramaswamy's presidential effort as a senior strategist and New Hampshire co-chair. Recalling the start of his work in the 2016 cycle, he told Fox News, "We were energized. We were engaged. We were about getting it done."

Federal emergency management became the final assignment in that progression. Doucette resigned from the House on March 10, 2025, and was sworn in a week later as administrator of FEMA Region 1. Based in Boston, the regional office coordinates federal disaster work across all six New England states and 10 federally recognized Tribal Nations. Salem Patch reported that his Navy and fire-service experience accompanied him into the job.

The news of his death brought statements from the institutions and people who had worked beside him. Governor Kelly Ayotte, who called Doucette a friend, said he had devoted his life to Salem, New Hampshire, and the nation. Fellow Salem lawmaker Joe Sweeney told The Boston Globe that even as Doucette moved between Concord and Boston, "he was always a Salem guy first." State Republican chairman Scott Maltzie said he valued not only Doucette's offices but the character he brought to each one.

Doucette's work remained visible in the places that depend on people to step forward: the Salem fire station where he served for 25 years, the House chamber where he represented his town during six terms, the primary campaigns he organized across New Hampshire, and the regional FEMA network joining six states and 10 Tribal Nations. Across those institutions, his career kept returning to the practical work of public service.