Man in command

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Joe Lyons, a 18-year veteran of the Westfield Fire Dept., appointed as new chief

 

Joe Lyons joined the Westfield Fire Dept. as a volunteer in 1994. On March 28 the 44-year-old was charged with leading the 72-member fire, rescue and emergency medical service department as its chief.

“It was pretty surprising,” Lyons said. “I never even wanted this position. It was never a goal of mine.”

Lyons, who replaces former chief Jason Lemons, comes from a family of firemen. His great grandfather and uncle were members of the Indianapolis Fire Dept. Lyons said it was one of his coworkers in Westfield that informed him that the department was taking applications for volunteers and started his firefighting career.

“He talked me into volunteering and we were hired the same year (1996),” Lyons said, adding the coworker, Steve Bauer, is now the union representative and still with the department.

Lyons previously worked as a truck driver for a tool rental company before joining the department.

“There were a lot of elements to learn, what’s expected of you, it never stops. It’s an educational process,” he said.

Westfield Chief of Staff Todd Burtron asked Lyons if he was interested in serving in the position temporarily as the city looked for someone outside the department in January.

“I never imagined I would be selected for that. When I was getting called to his office I thought I was in trouble. I was trying to think of what I did,” he said.

After serving for two months, Cook talked with Lyons and said how pleased he was with what was going on under Lyons leadership and offered to remove the interim title.

“Joe has proved himself as a leader in the department and richly deserves this appointment,” Cook said of his March 28 appointee. “We are lucky to have him in our city and look forward to his leadership in this new role.”

“As a long-time member of the Westfield Fire Department, I am very honored by this appointment,” Lyons said. “I look forward to serving Westfield’s citizens and visitors to help make our community as safe and enjoyable as possible.”

 The department

WFD protects 56 square miles and to date, Lyons said the department has seen a higher volume of emergency runs than last year.

“A lot of that has to do with the colder weather – sprinklers line breaks are causing false alarms, more slips on ice,” he said.

Westfield has three fire stations and Lyons said Tony Murray, Hamilton County Fire Fighters Local 4416 president, is helping the city identify a site for a future station. Lyons said the last study was done in 2009.

“Things have changed in the past five years. We want to identify possible locations with housing and businesses coming in. The way the district has changed this will help reduce run times,” Lyons said.

Lyons said the department plans to utilize its training facility for training exercises and work on technical skills. The facility also provides the department with a chance to work with neighboring fire departments like Noblesville and Fishers to simulate training for command situations. Mutual aid is an important part of the job of the various Hamilton County departments.

“Twelve to 15 percent of fire runs are out of the district,” Lyons said.

Lyons said he has made no major changes since he took over as interim chief and doesn’t plan to make any as chief now.

“Things are going well. I have a great group of people,” he said. “I just want us to be a professional organization that provides all-hazards services to our community.”

Like his predecessors, Lyons plans to be financially responsible and to continue to improve grant requests,

“We’re holding things flat. I’m trying to do more with our limited resources,” he said.

The biggest problem facing the city and its emergency services is growth.

“There’s a lot of development in the planning stage or currently taking place. Grand Park is opening attracting a lot of businesses … The ability for us to grow in the future is there,” Lyons said.

One issue facing WFD now and the foreseeable future is construction on U.S. 31 and its impact on response times. Officials have constant meetings with INDOT officials to receive updates on construction, which are given to battalion leaders and shift personnel to find alternative routes.

“It changes our geographic boundaries for each station as the project flows,” Lyons said. “It’s all about planning. We are making sure we are up to date and know what their construction managers are working with.”

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Meet Joe Lyons

Age: 44

Hometown: Indianapolis

Residence: Westfield

Family: Wife, Tricia; and daughter, Ashley

Memberships: National Association of Fire Investigators, International Association of Arson Investigators and Hamilton County Fire Fighters Local 4416.

Hobbies: motorcycling and target shooting

Quote: “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” – Romans 5:1-5


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