Torrance County Fire Chief Jason Trumbull announced via Facebook Friday he is resigning for health reasons effective April 30.
“I have been the county fire marshal and chief for 10 years, but I started volunteering with Fire Departments in Torrance County when I was 15,” Trumbull said in the post. “This department has been a major part of my life for over 27 years and I have been very proud of the work us as volunteers have done! When I started, the equipment that was available was either outdated, unusable, or broken. Volunteers brought their own shovels, rakes, and hoes to grass fires. Proper protective equipment was a luxury. In the last 10 years that we have led this department, our equipment has been brought up to date and is all NFPA compliant. Torrance County Fire Department volunteers are receiving professional firefighting training and our ranks were beginning to grow. We hired a consultant to evaluate the department and we used the findings to restructure command and districts to use resources more efficiently. By all accounts the department was in excellent shape and we were moving ahead with plans to staff at least one station with paid responders, decreasing response times and providing opportunities for firefighters to work closer to home.”