The Austintown Fire Department gained a new battalion chief at Monday's Township meeting. Capt. Tom O'Hara rose to that rank before an audience of family members and fellow fire fighters.
"It's always been in my blood," said O'Hara regarding the fire service.
O'Hara, a 1989 Fitch graduate, began with the Austintown Fire Department as a part timer in 1992. Three years later he moved to full time and in 2016 took on the role of captain. In his new role as Battalion Chief, O'Hara will take charge of recruit training and personnel development, a task he is already well versed in as an instructor at MCCTC's fire training classes.
"He has excelled at training and has taken it to a whole new level," said Fire Chief Andy Frost.
After O'Hara was officially sworn in for the new position, his daughter Elysabethe O'Hara had the honors of pinning her father. This fire department ritual involved having a family member pin the badge for the new office on the candidate who was sworn in.