Fairlawn in Process of Selecting New Fire Chief

The search for Fairlawn’s new fire chief will soon come to an end, as a four-member search committee has narrowed a field of more than 80 candidates down to three finalists to be interviewed by Mayor William Roth.

The has been operating with Capt. Russ Hose, a department member since 1982, as interim chief . The latter served as chief for nearly 12 years and had been with the department since its founding in 1981.

Upon Goodrich’s retirement, the city began advertising the full-time chief’s position through the Ohio Fire Chiefs’ Association and three of Ohio’s largest newspapers, which landed the ad on the worldwide employment website monster.com.

Roth set up a search committee composed of City Council President Russell Sharnsky; Planning Commission member Jim Swartz, whom Roth says has previous search committee experience; Kevin Campbell, the city’s labor attorney; and Pat Ramsey, a consultant who Roth said specializes in personnel and testing and has been through a previous fire chief search.

The deadline to submit applications for the chief’s position was Oct. 28 – a target date met by more than 80 candidates. Laura George, Roth’s executive assistant, said Michigan, Utah, New Hampshire and New Mexico were among the states represented by applicants.

The search committee winnowed the candidate field to nine applicants, including Hose, who were interviewed in person at City Hall over a two-day period earlier this month. The committee selected three of the applicants to be interviewed by Roth, who will choose a finalist for the job that will be confirmed by council.

Roth said the city’s fire department is made up of 13 full-time employees and 37 part-time employees, five of whom just recently completed their orientations. The department maintains a large pool of part-time employees as “part-timers work full-time jobs elsewhere. There are often several part-timers working at other fire departments (at the same time),” Roth explained.

The new chief will be only the third in the Fairlawn Fire Department’s 30-year history. According to the city’s website, the first chief was John Gemind, who organized and secured the needed resources required to outfit a growing community with fire and EMS protection. Gemind retired in 2000, turning over the office of the chief to then-Assistant Chief Glenn Goodrich.

All of the department's full-time employees are state-certified paramedics with ACLS (Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support) training, State of Ohio Firefighter II certification and possess a wide variety of special training and education skills, the website states. The department has an ISO Class-4 community protection rating.