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06/01/2020

Fire Chief

City of Winchester, VA

The City of Winchester, VA (pop. 27,932), located at the top of the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia is a vibrant, historic community welcoming visitors with warm hospitality for over 270 years. Old Town Winchester hosts over 30 restaurants, 60 fun shops and numerous history sites and museums, including Stonewall Jackson’s Headquarters Museum, George Washington’s Office Museum, and a 45-block National Register Historic District. The Old Town area also features a pedestrian mall, eclectic mix of shops featuring antiques, fine furnishings, gift items, local and regional works of art and fine clothing. Visitors and residents alike enjoy the variety of restaurants featuring outdoor café dining with a historic ambiance.

The City is seeking experienced chief officers with strong leadership skills as candidates for its next Fire Chief. The City covers 9.3 square miles (virtually all of which is land) and is located in the Shenandoah Valley between the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Allegheny Mountains approximately 75 miles west of Washington, D.C. Winchester has been long known as the “Apple Capital” and was surrounded by vast orchards. Each spring, the City plays host for ten days to over 250,000 visitors who converge upon the city to witness the famous Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival, which has existed since 1924. Winchester also hosts the world’s largest Firefighters’ parade the Friday before the Grand Feature Parade on Saturday. Winchester serves as the County Seat of Frederick County, but is an independent City and home to Shenandoah University, Winchester Medical Center and the business headquarters of Continental (O’Sullivan), National Fruit and Rubbermaid. Federal agencies with operations in the Winchester area include the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the United States Army Corps of Engineers.

The Fire Department is an effective combination modern fire department comprised of four (4) volunteer owned fire stations. Those volunteer fire companies include the Friendship Volunteer Fire Company, the Rouss Volunteer Fire Company, the Shawnee Volunteer Fire Company, and the South End Volunteer Fire Company. The City of Winchester provides the staffing for each of the stations working a 24/48 shift schedule. Alongside the Chief, the department has 72 positions which include 63 field operations, training, EMS billing, and administrative functions. The volunteer component additionally adds twenty-one (21) active operational volunteers and sixty (60) active administrative volunteer members. Collectively, the volunteers own the stations, all the ambulances and apparatus that are utilized for emergency response within the city. The department provides 24-hour fire protection and Advanced Life Support (ALS) medical services and responded to over 6,000 calls in 2019 with approximately 75% of the calls as EMS emergencies. The department received an ISO Class 3 rating in 2014 and was upgraded to a Class 2 in 2018. The City and Department are focused on services and Community Risk Reduction outreach.

The successful candidate will provide:

• Possession of a valid and appropriate driver’s license.
• Possess and maintains valid and appropriate certificates for the following: Fire Officer – Level I, II, III, & IV NFPA 1403 Compliance Officer, NFA – Incident Safety Officer, Fire Instructor – Level I & II, Firefighter Level II, Emergency Medical Technician, Emergency Vehicle Operations Course (Level III), Driver Operator – Pumper AND Aerial, Mayday Firefighter Down and Hazardous Material Operations.
• Certificates must be available and recognized by the Commonwealth of Virginia. Requirements specified in the NIMS compliance manual. Successful candidates must possess:
• Any combination of education and experience equivalent to a bachelor’s degree in Fire Science or related field and extensive experience of a wide and progressively responsible nature in fire and rescue service.
• A Master’s Degree is preferred.
• Graduation from the National Fire Academy’s Executive Fire Officer Program and Emergency Manager and Incident Manager Certifications preferred.

The annual salary for this position is $110,000 (+/-) depending upon qualifications and reports directly to the City Manager. The City of Winchester, VA also offers an attractive and competitive benefits package.

Interested professionals should submit a résumé, cover letter and contact information for five (5) work-related references by July 10 ,2020 attention Tim Sashko at: www.GovHRjobs.com.

Electronic submissions are required.
Telephone inquiries: GovHR USA (847) 380-3240.
THE CITY OF WINCHESTER IS PROUD TO BE AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER. Click Here to Apply - https://govhrusa.applytojob.com/apply/Dkc496DFdu/Winchester-VA-Fire-Chief

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