Daisy Mountain seeks new Fire Chief
MARC BUCKHOUT ~ MANAGING EDITOR ~ 9/1/2010

At an emergency meeting of the Daisy Mountain Fire board the department laid out a time table of 60-90 days for seeking out and hiring a new fire chief and assistant fire chief.
With Tom Healy, the fire chief since 1999, battling cancer the department hired Terry Garrison as Assistant Chief in March with the expectation that he would succeed Healy when he could no longer perform his duties.
Healy died on Aug. 6 at the age of 67.
In the weeks since Healy’s passing Garrison has accepted a fire chief position in Houston.
Despite the loss of the department’s top two ranking fire fighters Daisy Mountain Public Information Officer Dave Wilson said area residents can rest assured that there won’t be any issues regarding emergency services.
“We have a plan,” he said. “It might take a couple months to complete our search and make a hire. We certainly want to fill the position promptly, but we’ll continue to do business as normal in the meantime. People can expect quality emergency service just as they normally would.”
Wilson said the early indications are that plenty of candidates will be interested in the position that oversees 95 employees, four fire stations and a district that serves a population of some 40,000 in the North Valley.
Brian Moore, of the Daisy Mountain Fire board, said that the department will seek out an interim fire chief while the department conducts a search for the permanent Fire Chief and Assistant Fire Chief and that the goal will be to have that person in place by the time Garrison departs for Texas on Sept. 8.
“Terry was a tremendous asset in his short time with the department,” Moore said.
Moore said the interim fire chief likely will not be someone with aspirations to have the permanent position.
“We would rather have a person that wouldn’t be applying for the position,” Moore said.
“We want somebody that can concentrate on leading the district on a day-to-day basis without having to be involved in the application process.”
As for the desired traits for the permanent fire chief, Moore said the board has several.
“We want somebody that is experienced from a budget standpoint,” he said. “We also want someone that has experience with the management of personnel, an extended supervisory background as well as a record of emergency service.”
The board is in the process of putting together a job description in order to solicit applicants for the assistant chief and fire chief positions.
For information on Daisy Mountain Fire Department go to daisymountainfire.org.