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Fire Rescue Promotes Two To Captain

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 7, 2008

Items of interest from the April 28 Plant City Commission meeting include:

•Fire Rescue Chief George Shiley introduced five new department members and two longtime employees promoted to captain. They were administered the oath of office.

•Vincent Probst, who was hired in August 2000 and became a driver/engineer in February 2003, was promoted to captain Jan. 1.

•Ricky Sullivan was promoted to captain of operations Jan. 1. He started as a reserve member of the department in July 1991 and was hired full time in October 1993. H was promoted to driver/engineer in May 1996 and to captain in February 2003. Sullivan is a certified fire officer working toward fire officer II certification.

•David Burnett was hired in August as department training chief. He began his firefighting career in 1987 as a volunteer with the Midway Fire District near Tallahassee and worked his way up to chief. In 2004, he was hired as fire chief for the Levy County city of Chiefland. He is about to complete work for a bachelor's degree in fire science.

•James Wilson was hired as an emergency medical services captain in January. He started his fire service career in 1983 in Brevard County and has an associate's degree in emergency medical services and a bachelor's degree in management.

•Jared Wyatt was hired as a fire medic in October. He became a certified paramedic in August 2006 and certified firefighter one year ago.

•Britt Davis was hired in February as a firefighter/emergency medical technician. The Plant City High graduate became a certified firefighter in November 2006 and an EMT in June 2007. He plans to start medic school in the fall.

• William Wimberly was hired April 1 as firefighter/EMT. A certified firefighter/EMT, he has a bachelor's degree in sport management from the University of Tampa and is attending paramedic school.

•Commissioners agreed to work with the Greater Plant City Chamber of Commerce to alert local dealerships about the city's requests for bids on vehicles. The issue was raised because no local dealers responded to advertised bids for six new trucks to be used by city departments.

Commissioners Robert Brown and Bill Dodson said only dealers outside Plant City responded to the bids, and they urged a system for alerting local companies that sell vehicles - or other equipment - to the city's needs.

City Attorney Ken Buchman, however, told commissioners the lack of local bids would not justify rejecting the low bids, submitted by Don Reid Ford in Maitland for one truck and Bill Currie Ford in Tampa for the other five.

Mayor Rick Lott concurred. "We have to stand by what we said we would do." But he added it would be easy to provide local dealers with the details of the advertised requests for bids. "E-mail is a very simple thing to do," he suggested.

•Nuisance weeds in Samuel Cooper Lake are proving to be just that.

Despite the ongoing effort to kill the aquatic weeds with herbicides, the problem is recurring, City Manager David Sollenberger told commissioners.

Chemicals are applied monthly, but in limited quantities to avoid harming fish and adversely affecting the Eastside Canal, downstream from the lake.

The city staff will harvest the weeds once the lake depth is sufficient to allow the equipment to perform properly, he said. The water depth is being monitored.

George Wilkens

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