David Hoback said he looks forward to taking charge of the department’s direction
By Reed Williams
The Roanoke Times (Virginia)
Copyright 2007 The Roanoke Times
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News
David Hoback, who started working as a city paramedic 22 years ago and rose through the ranks, has been named chief of Roanoke Fire-EMS.
Hoback, 44, had been acting chief since July 2005, when former chief Jim Grigsby became acting assistant city manager for operations. Hoback’s promotion was effective Monday and announced Tuesday.
He said he looks forward to taking charge of the department’s direction and addressing its challenges, such as how to go about replacing aging facilities.
“I want to move the department forward,” Hoback said Tuesday.
A nationwide search to fill Grigsby’s position began after he was named permanent assistant city manager for operations in October.
Hoback beat out more than 40 other applicants.
He supervises 272 employees in 14 facilities, including the agency’s administrative offices at the Jefferson Center. His annual salary is $90,000.
Grigsby, who directed the search effort, said Hoback’s experience, education and well-roundedness helped secure him the job.
“I think he has a leg up. ... He’s had 18 months kind of getting used to the water, so to speak,” Grigsby said.
City Manager Darlene Burcham said in a statement that Hoback had proven himself an effective leader of the agency.
A majority of Hoback’s employees are members of a firefighters association that historically has had political influence in the city.
Rodney Jordan, president of the Roanoke Firefighters Association, said he found out Tuesday morning about Hoback’s promotion and hadn’t had a chance to discuss it with the membership.
He said, though, that Hoback has always been an approachable leader.
“You don’t know what he’ll do once he becomes chief, but when he was deputy chief and acting chief of the department, he was very good about keeping an open line ... and keeping the union informed,” Jordan said.
Hoback will oversee a move into a new department headquarters at Franklin Road and Elm Avenue, expected to take place in April.
The city also plans to consolidate two stations in Northwest Roanoke into a facility to be built off Melrose Avenue. Another facility is to be built at Williamson Road near the intersection with Hershberger Road.
Hoback said he planned to continue fire education efforts that he credits, in part, for a drop in the number of “significant” structure fires from 82 in 2005 to 78 last year. By “significant” he means fires that caused more than $1,000 in damage.
He said that last year also saw a decrease in the amount of total monetary damages that fire caused to buildings, vehicles and their contents, from $4.9 million in 2005 to $2.5 million in 2006.
“We’re not just there when you call 911,” said Hoback. “We’re there on the front side for public education and teaching the children in our schools fire prevention and fire education.”
Hoback became a rescue volunteer in the city in 1980 and a paid paramedic in 1985. He later was promoted to emergency field supervisor and then to deputy coordinator of emergency services in 1989.
He was made a battalion chief when the city consolidated its fire and rescue operations in 1995 and was promoted to deputy chief in 2002.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in fire administration from Hampton University and was named an executive fire officer with the National Fire Academy in 2002.