Oct. 02--CHAMBERSBURG -- With the hiring of a new assistant fire chief, all terms of the $1.6 million SAFER grant have been met and the Chambersburg Fire Department is moving forward.
Howard R. "Butch" Leonhard Jr. was chosen by a search committee and hired for the position. His first day on the job was Monday.
Borough Manager Jeffrey Stonehill, Emergency Services Chief William FitzGerald and Chambersburg Council member Thomas Newcomer made up the search committee.
"The selection was made by the borough manager as chief administrative officer of the borough pursuant to local law but after consultation with the committee," Stonehill said in an e-mail. "There were many good candidates."
Of the 31 applicants, eight were interviewed by the committee, he said. The pool of applicants included two from Chambersburg and one each from Chestertown, Md., Harrisburg, Leesburg, Va., Philadelphia, Toledo, Ohio, and Waldorf, Md.
The biggest thing was finding a person who would be a good fit for the fire department, not so much their qualifications, FitzGerald said.
"(Leonhard) absolutely is a fit," FitzGerald said. "It looks like he's going to be the perfect person for us operationally and administratively."
Interest in the position was two-fold, Leonhard said. One, was his desire to move back to Pennsylvania and the other was to continue his 35 years of fire service.
"It was the perfect opportunity to do both," Leonhard said. "At the time, I had a job and when this one came up, I decided to start the pursuit of a job in Pennsylvania."
Leonhard spent his first day getting the feel for the fire department's operations, getting fitted for gear and meeting members on shift. Throughout the rest of the week, he hopes to meet the other shift members, visit the McKinley Street station, meet with other borough officials, learn the layout of the streets and more.
"There was a lot of things happening really quickly," Leonhard said. "It's like the first day of school."
His fire service career began in Middletown in 1977. Prior to coming to Chambersburg, he was serving as assistant fire chief with the Prince George's County Fire/EMS Department in Maryland. He also has 12 years active duty with the U.S. Navy and 11 years with the U.S. Air Force Reserve, retiring in 2003.
Although the job as an "at-will" position because the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response grant only runs for two years, that wasn't really a factor in his decision, he said.
"I bring a lot of experience and education from my previous job that will help to improve upon what's already in place," Leonhard said. "I would hope the position would continue, but I understand."
When any department is operating with grant money, it's important to work a little harder to justify those positions, something he plans to do.
A self-described "lifelong learner," Leonhard has an associate's degree in fire science technology from the College of Southern Maryland and is about 18 to 20 credits short of also completing a bachelor's degree from Waldorf College.
While in Chambersburg, he'd also like to work on achieving the chief fire officer designation, which would help with various duties, such as budgeting and administration.
Two other firefighters were also hired to maintain staffing levels in the department as part of the terms of the SAFER grant, which went into effect Sept. 24, FitzGerald said.
They are currently completing fire training courses at Harrisburg Area Community College and expect to be in the stations by year's end, he said.
"We're on board," FitzGerald said. "It's moving forward and everything should work out for the two-year period."
Prior to receiving the grant, FitzGerald had been working to cut back supplies and decommission equipment, whether that continues and how the department will plan for after the SAFER grant is up to other officials.
"A lot of that is strictly up to the borough manager and council," he said.
FitzGerald will present a budget to the borough in the next few months that will again delay replacing a ladder truck until 2015.
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Samantha Cossick can be reached at [email protected] and 262-4762.
Copyright 2012 - Public Opinion, Chambersburg, Pa.
