Although he has only been the City of Columbus’ fire chief for just over a year, Dan Miller said he began dreaming of serving in the role almost two decades ago. Back in 2000, Miller was often making trips to town to help lead a hazardous materials course at Central Community College-Columbus for various organizations through his part-time work with a private company. It was then Miller, who was also a member of the Omaha Fire Department at the time, got the idea in his head. “I really got a good view of Columbus. I was intrigued by the industrial aspects of the community, and the more I looked at Columbus over the years, I thought this would be a great place to be a fire chief someday,” said Miller, who has been an EMT since 1984 and spent nearly 20 years with the Nebraska State Fire Marshal’s Office as a part-time instructor. “I never really took my eye off of that.”