TOWN
OF ABINGDON
Abingdon,
Virginia
Town
of Abingdon Appoints Full-Time Fire Chief
On
February 1st, 2016, the Town of Abingdon appointed its first
full-time Fire Chief. With support from the Town Council, Town Administration,
and the Abingdon Fire Department, the current part-time Fire Chief John
McCormick accepted the full-time position. Chief McCormick will begin in
full-time status on March 1, 2016. His office will be located at the Abingdon
Fire Department on 316 Park Street, Abingdon.
The Fire Department has seen
an increase in service calls in recent years, and responded to a record 524
calls in 2015. In addition, Abingdon Town Council recently adopted the
Virginia Statewide Fire Prevention Code to enforce fire safety laws in
commercial properties within the corporate limits of the Town. Along with
the onset of new commercial growth in and around Abingdon, the amount of
administrative work required of the fire department will increase greatly;
which increases the need for a full-time fire chief.
“A full-time Fire Chief has been discussed
since 1996, but has never come to fruition until the Town Council decided to
make the part-time position full-time at the February 1, 2016 meeting,” said
Chief McCormick. “The need was clear and has the backing of the Fire
Department. The paid per call/per hour Fire Department is an efficient
model, but the Town is realizing that volunteers increasingly require the
strong, full-time leadership of a Chief to make everything function
smoothly. The system works well to provide top service without an
increased financial burden of having a 100 percent paid department 24 hours a
day, 7 days a week.”
“John has served the Fire Department well for
many years in all of his roles as a member of the Department,” said Town
Manager Greg Kelly. “I am confident that he will do an excellent job as the
Town’s first full time Fire Chief, and lead the Department into the future. He
is highly regarded among his peers, both personally and professionally, and he possesses
all of the skills necessary to run an effective and efficient Volunteer Fire
Department. Due to the increased growth
within the Town, and the significant areas of growth in Washington County that
the Abingdon Fire Department services, it is becoming increasingly critical for
the Abingdon Fire Department to have more than just volunteers so that
firefighters can be readily dispatched as quickly as possible.”
“The
Town of Abingdon takes public safety very seriously and tries to always find
the resources necessary to ensure that residents of the Town, and our service region,
are kept out of harm’s way,” according to Town Manager Kelly. “As a local government manager, I believe that
public safety should be a locality’s first priority. Given the price tag that comes with funding
adequate fire protection throughout Washington County, it is becoming necessary
to pool government resources to keep these services at a level that can
adequately manage the continued growth our region is experiencing. To that end, the Town looks forward to
working with Washington County to provide the best fire protection services
possible for all of our residents and visitors.”
Chief McCormick is a
lifelong resident of Abingdon, Virginia with his volunteer career beginning in
1979 at the age of 14. He served as the Town of Abingdon Building
Inspector and Fire Marshal from 1984 until 1995 when he became a Fire Marshal
with the Commonwealth of Virginia. He is a Virginia Certified Building
and Fire Official, Fire Inspector and Investigator, Fire Officer IV, and holds
a Career Studies Certificate in Fire Science from Virginia Highlands Community
College. He intends to continue his fire science studies and acquire his
Bachelors Degree for Columbia Southern University. He, his wife
Susan, and daughters Kaitlin and Kellie reside in the Town of Abingdon.
Pictured Above: Fire Chief John McCormick
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