OCEAN CITY – Once money becomes available, Ocean City Fire Chief Chris Larmore hopes to extend the new look of the department to the equipment as well.
During Tuesday’s monthly report to the Mayor and City Council, Larmore said that a commission of volunteer and career firefighters unanimously approved a new logo that would be placed on all fire department and EMS vehicles next to the recently approved new department seal to create uniformity in the department vehicle fleet.
“All of our fire equipment had been marked with volunteer fire crest and seal,” said Larmore, “so when they responded to incidents, our career people did not feel they had proper representation on that equipment to indicate they chose the fire department as their career and likewise the volunteers wanted that representation.”
What the commission came up with according to Larmore, was the slogan “Volunteer and Career: United to Serve” which will be placed on the lower door panels of the vehicles, and the newly approved Ocean City Fire Department seal will be the focal point of the vehicles.
Originally, the slogan read “united to serve our community”, but Larmore said that the final two words were removed from that slogan so tourists and visitors to the resort were not neglected in the verbiage.
10 paramedic units were added in the last seven years, and Larmore said that many of which were riding through the streets of Ocean City, each with different logos and departments.
“There has been quite an inconsistency, said Larmore, “some say OC fire department, some say OC Fire EMS, some say OC fire rescue, and some say OC paramedic rescue. As funds become available I would like to change all the units to be have the same seal of the fire department and the new volunteer and career logo.”
Larmore conceded that he doubts that anyone will think this is a “monumental task” but he said that it was important to the department to come up with a logo that showed “where we are and where we are going.”
In addition, Larmore reported to the council that the two new fire engines that were approved for purchase are on schedule and should be delivered by May 1 and ready for action this summer.
Larmore also mentioned that the process to promote some of the career members of the department after council approved a new ranking structure in December is underway.
“We hope to have our new assistant chief on board in early March and our four captain positions filled hopefully by end of March.