City Council Ratifies New Fire Chief

The Las Vegas City Council has ratified the promotion of Las Vegas Fire & Rescue Deputy Chief Mike Myers to the position of fire chief. He was selected for the position by City Manager Elizabeth N. Fretwell. Chief Myers, a 24-year veteran of the department, will replace retiring Chief Greg Gammon.

“I want to thank the mayor, City Council and City Manager Betsy Fretwell for having the faith and confidence in me to lead Las Vegas Fire & Rescue,” Chief Myers said. “Las Vegas Fire & Rescue is among the top departments in the country and continuing those high standards while keeping our commitment to serving the residents and visitors to Las Vegas will be the department’s top priorities.”

From 1986 to 2002, Chief Myers served as a firefighter, paramedic and a fire training officer before being promoted to assistant fire chief in 2002. From August 2007 through January 2008, Chief Myers served as interim fire chief.

In addition, from 2007 to the present Chief Myers was a deputy fire chief responsible for medical services and communications. In this position Chief Myers oversaw an increase in cardiac arrest patient survivability by more than 40-percent as well as more than 12,527 medical transports in 2009.

Also under his watch, changes in the communications center resulted in reductions in response times. In 2006, 56-percent of emergency calls were dispatched in under 90 seconds, and that number improved to nearly 83-percent in 2008.

Chief Myers will assume the fire chief duties from outgoing Chief Gammon in January. Chief Gammon is retiring on Jan. 10, 2011, and will pursue an opportunity with the College of Southern Nevada.