Choices Down To Final Three In Defiance

The search for a new Fire Chief in Defi­ance is down to three can­di­dates, and two of them are famil­iar names.

The Cres­cent News reports that civil ser­vice test­ing in Defi­ance has turned up three final­ists for the job…

the city’s assis­tant chief and act­ing chief, Tim Bowl­ing; for­mer Defi­ance chief Bill Wilkins; and Fred­er­ick Welsh.

Nine peo­ple applied for the chief’s posi­tion, but only four took the writ­ten test which pre­ceded the oral assess­ment. Only three, those just men­tioned, took the oral test­ing.

Final inter­view­ing is set to begin today for the three final­ists, with a new chief expected to be selected within three to four weeks.

Bowl­ing has been the city’s act­ing fire chief since Chief David Schmaltz left in Jan­u­ary to take a job in Bat­tle Creek, Michi­gan.

Wilkins was the city’s fire chief from 1999–2006, and he recently was employed by the Ohio state fire marshal’s office.

Welsh was the chief of the Syl­va­nia Town­ship Fire Depart­ment in sub­ur­ban Toledo from 2007-10.