Page 36 - InCommand Volume 36

OFCA Today
Chief Brent Gates, OFC
New Concord Fire Department, Retired Ohio Fire Chiefs’ Association Past Board Member
Congratulations to the 2021 Distinguished Service Award Winners!
The Ohio Fire Chiefs’ Association Distinguished Service Award is presented each year to an individual who has performed outstanding services to the Ohio Fire Chiefs’ Association, as well as to the Ohio fire service, in general. The Ohio Fire Chiefs’ Association is pleased to announce that Retired Chief Brent Gates, Retired Chief Melvin House, and Retired Chief Mitch Ross were the 2021 recipients of the Distinguished Service Award.
Chief Brent Gates began his career in the fire service in 1978 as a Firefighter with the New Concord Fire Department. Even today, you will often hear Chief Gates describe his beginning in the fire service as “catching the bug”. What began as just trying to help out the community quickly became something more.
In 1981, Brent was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, which was an oddity for the organization with strong foundations in its hierarchy to have such a young company officer. At the same time in 1982, Brent took on the role of President of the New Concord Firemen’s Association, which was the non-profit organization that at the time largely supported the funding of the fire department and equipment for its members through fundraising; Brent served in that capacity until 1992. In 1988, he took another promotion to Captain, where he began to lay the foundation for the future steering the apparatus committee and formulating plans he and his officers would use to replace the entire fleet before his retirement.
In 1986, with the Retirement of Gates’s longtime mentor, Fire Chief George Sheggog, Sr., Brent was promoted to the rank of Assistant Chief before finally replacing Fire Chief John Moon in 1992 and becoming the Fire Chief of the New Concord Fire Department.
Over his career, Chief Gates accomplished many personal goals and served as a part of many organizations. He is a participating member of the National Fire Protection Association, the International Society of Fire Service Instructors, and the International Association of Fire Chiefs.
He has held E-board positions with the South Eastern Ohio Fire Chiefs Association and the Ohio Society of Fire Service Instructors, and been a board member, serving as Director-At-Large, with the Ohio Fire Chiefs’ Association. His accolades are too many to list, but cannot go without mentioning receiving awards given to him by his peers, such as the Ohio Fire Instructor of the Year in 2013 and The Ohio State Valor Award for his actions in February in 1981, where he saved a victim from a burning home.
Chief Gates continues to share his knowledge and be a fire service leader through his work as an instructor with the Ohio Fire Academy and the Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Fire Training Program.
36 InCommand OCTOBER/NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021 • www.ohiofirechiefs.org