Lincoln Fire & Rescue promotes three longtime firefighters to battalion chief

Lincoln Fire and Rescue promoted three longtime members in a new push to better serve the community.

Battalion chiefs Bob Watton, Mike Smith, And Eddie Mueller have over 60 years of combined firefighting experience. For Chief Watton it means a bit less physical work, and more administrative work.

“I won’t be as active as far as physical work at fires, but I’ll be in command of the incident,” said Battalion Chief Bob Watton.

Watton also says that this promotion has been a long time coming.

“It feels outstanding. It’s been a long road however; I truly believe the real winners here are the community.”

The community wins as the new chiefs will allow for a better use of department resources.

“We’re going to have a better response time for managers to get on scene which means the crews that are on scene first can go right to work instead of some of them waiting and taking command and not being able to take action,” said Lincoln Fire & Rescue Chief Michael Despain.

The promotion will save the city money, too. Chief Despain says around $100,000 per year will be saved by reducing overtime costs from having to call off-duty chief officers in to help.

LFR isn’t the only public safety organization expanding their numbers. Earlier Thursday Lincoln Mayor Gaylor Baird announced plans for an additional six officers to join the police force.

“We must continue to add officers and other resources to keep pace with the demands of our growing community. Today I’m pleased to announce that we will use annual savings in the Lincoln Police department budget to hire six new officers,” said Mayor Gaylor Baird.

The mayor says money will also be used by not filling the position of public safety director. That was held by Tom Casady, who retired. The new officers will replace six veterans, five of whom will take on new roles as investigators.

The new police officers are expected to be hired January 2020. As for the new battalion chiefs, they’ll start work in their new roles next Wednesday, June 26.