MANSFIELD — Six decades of local firefighting experience took a step forward on Monday morning.
A packed training room of attendees at Mansfield Fire Department Station 1 on East Third Street watched Mike Carey be promoted to assistant chief, Matt Shafley to captain and Kyle Hedrick to lieutenant.
Carey and Shafley both joined the MFD 25 years ago and Hedrick did the same 11 years ago.
The 51-year-old Carey, promoted from captain, will take over management of the department’s emergency medical services, according to new Chief Dan Crow, who was promoted 10 days ago to lead the department.
Shafley, 47, will head the fire prevention bureau and the 34-year-old Hedrick becomes a crew supervisor.
Crow introduced each of the three men, who took new oaths administered by interim Safety-Service Director Dave Remy. Each man’s wife pinned their new badges on their uniforms.
“This may be the very last one of these I am able to do,” Remy said. “I know all three of these gentlemen and their promotions are well deserved.
“They are all assets to the department,” he said.
(Below is a photo gallery from the promotion ceremonies Monday morning at the Mansfield Fire Department.)
Carey, a Loudonville High School graduate who was trained at the Ohio Fire Academy, said his move into an assistant chief’s role is a big change for him.
“A huge transition for me, obviously, moving forward. I am coming off of an engine company (where) normally I was downtown’s No. 1 captain running the crew with my assistant chief. Now I’m taking over a whole operations area,” Carey said.
“It’ll be interesting. It’s more of an administrative position. I’m coming off of shift work and I’ll be going t a 40-hour work week. So it’s huge transition for me as far as that goes.
“But we’ll have fun doing it,” Carey said.
The new assistant chief praised the department’s EMS responders.
“We’ve got a very talented group of people. Obviously, we’re in the streets, they’re using their skills every day. They do a great job. That end of my job is going to be really easy. They’re great people.
“The administrative department, as far as working with a whole new group of people, is going to be interesting,” Carey said.
Shafley, a Westerville South High School graduate, said he joined the MFD on Sept. 11, 1998, after graduating from Hocking College Fire and Emergency Medical Service program.
“One of my instructors was a firefighter from Elyria and he told me about (openings) at the Mansfield Fire Department,” Shafley said. “I took the department’s (physical) agility test on my 21st birthday.”
“I always wanted to be a firefighter,” he said.
Hedrick graduated from Madison Comprehensive High School in 2007 and began studying engineering at North Central State College. He decided firefighting was has true calling and graduated from Hocking College in 2011.
Why firefighting?
“I was drawn by the aspect of helping people during some of the worst times in their lives,” Hedrick said.