Boardman firefighter and part-time Austintown firefighter Brandon O’Hara pins the assistant chief badge on his dad, former Capt. Tom O’Hara, at Monday night’s Austintown trustees meeting. O’Hara was among four department promotions trustees approved, also filling vacancies at captain, lieutenant and full-time firefighter.

AUSTINTOWN — New fire Chief David Schertzer has made his first executive personnel decisions and township trustees approve.

At Monday’s regular meeting, Austintown’s governing board supported Schertzer’s recommendations to promote several members of the Austintown Fire Department to fill vacancies left by his promotion and his predecessor’s retirement.

Schertzer officially took over as chief last month, following the retirement on July 24 of Chief Andy Frost III.

His old post of assistant fire chief now will be held by Battalion Chief Capt. Tom O’Hara, who was sworn in at Monday’s meeting.

After Fiscal Officer Laura Wolfe administered the oath of office, O’Hara’s son — Boardman firefighter and Austintown part-timer Brandon O’Hara — pinned his new badge on his uniform.

“I just want to thank Chief Schertzer and retired Chief Frost for having faith in me to do the right thing, and I look forward to serving the community in a positive way,” O’ Hara said.

O’Hara and Schertzer both were hired as part timers in 1992, and O’Hara was hired as a full timer in 1995. He was promoted to lieutenant in 2015, then to captain in 2016, and took on the battalion chief role in 2019.

O’Hara said he and Schertzer have not yet discussed their areas of focus, but that they always want to make whatever improvements are necessary to maintain a high level of community service.

“We want to ensure that we’re all as well-trained and efficient as we can be when we’re responding to a call,” he said.

Moving up into the captain’s seat is Lt. Brandon Wirtz, and firefighter Nick Heitzer will assume the lieutenant’s role. The department is also hiring part-time firefighter Kevin Belus as a full-time firefighter to round out the staff.

“These guys have all been just great individuals, great employees of the township for the fire department, and they all earned their promotions through testing and doing the right things,” Schertzer said.

Schertzer said he is looking forward to working with the new crew, and is familiar with all of them.

“I’m excited to see what the future holds with these guys,” he said. “I have high expectations for them and I’m confident that they’re going to do a great job for us.”

Wirtz has been with the department since 2010, where he has served as an EMS coordinator, paramedic and firefighter. During that same period, he has worked at Lane LifeTrans, where he holds a lieutenant’s position as a paramedic and shift supervisor, and held a post as lead instructor at University Hospitals Institute of EMS Education and Disaster Preparedness.

Wirtz had the highest score of the three top candidates on the captain’s exam, scoring just over 90%, including service credit points.

Heitzer has been with Austintown since 2015. He is a full-time firefighter and paramedic. He serves as youth fire safety instructor, secretary of the local fireman’s union, teaches courses on firefighting and EMS at Mahoning County Career and Technical Center, and works as a part-time firefighter and paramedic in Liberty Township, Ellsworth Township and at Lane LifeTrans.

Heitzer had the highest score of the three top candidates on the lieutenant’s exam, earning just over a 90% base score, and scored 102.8 with his service credit points.

Schertzer said there was no test for the full-time firefighter spot because the department only uses testing when there is an over-abundance of applicants. He said the department only received two letters of interest from the part-time firefighters on staff.

Frost retired in July after a nearly 40-year career, having succeeded his father, Andy Frost Jr. as chief. One of Schertzer’s first decisions was to rehire Frost III as a part-time firefighter last month.

Schertzer has been with the department more than 30 years and assumed the assistant chief position in 2019.