MOUNT VERNON — The Mount Vernon Fire Department had an assessment on Tuesday for candidates to replace former Assistant Chief Joshua Lester.
Lester left the department in March to take a position with the Westerville Fire Department.
Two candidates, the EMS coordinator lieutenant and a line lieutenant, tested for the position.
“We’re hoping to get those results by the end of the week or early next week, and we can move forward with filling that position,” Chief Chad Christopher said.
“When we do fill that position, obviously, the trickle-down effect happens, and that will open up a lieutenant’s position.”
After the department fills the lieutenant position, it will hire a new firefighter/paramedic.
Firefighter/EMT Luke Hawbaker recently joined the department full-time. He has been part-time with the Mount Vernon Fire Dept. for several years.
He, along with other full-time employees, will graduate from paramedic school in June.
New ISO evaluation set for May
On tap May 6 is a new ISO (Insurance Services Office) evaluation. Christopher said that although grading is typically done every five to seven years, the MVFD is getting it done early because it has made significant changes since the last evaluation.
“Currently we’re 3/3Y, and we’re hoping to, at a minimum, maintain that, but we are definitely pushing for a 2. If we do that, that will be a significant achievement, because we’re graded on the fire department, emergency communications, and our water supply in our city,” Christopher said.
“I think we can all agree we’ve made some drastic improvements in all three of those categories.”
Christopher said only a small percentage of fire departments achieve a 2.
“It’s going to be tough to get there, but I think we can. If we can’t do it this time, I guarantee you by the next grading period, we will be,” he said.
Mayor Matt Starr said the city’s fire suppression system citywide is “pretty robust right now.”
“We’ve made a lot of improvements to having utilities and fire work together and finding those things out. Even four or five years ago, we knew we needed to make that investment,” he said.
