City of La Vergne Hires New Fire Chief

After a long search for the right person to replace the late Fire Chief Rick McCormick the City of La Vergne has finally found its next Fire Chief, and it turns out they didn’t have to look far.

Mayor Cole made the offer over the holidays to Interim Chief Chris Clark after the city conducted an extensive search process that received a wide variety of candidates from across the country who applied for the job.

Chris Clark has been with department since 2014 after Chief McCormick hired him to serve as the City’s Assistant Fire Chief. Clark was named Interim Fire Chief following McCormick’s death in August of 2018.

Clark stated, “It has been an honor to serve as the Assistant Fire Chief under the late Chief McCormick and I’m excited to serve in the Chief capacity and continue to serve the citizens in a safe and efficient manner while also growing the department and its resources.”

Clark brings to the job more than 10 years of government administration and supervisory experience in fire, EMS and special ops response, as well as a diverse knowledge of leadership in a variety of emergency response disciplines and multiple disaster responses. He has nearly 20 years of fire ground experience and assisted Rutherford County in the development of the Rutherford County Fire Department where he was later promoted to Deputy Fire Chief.

Currently, Clark is a member of the Tennessee Fire Chief’s Association. He serves as Chairman of the Special Operations Technical Advisory Committee and is a respected member of the Incident Management Team that provides assistance in major disasters across the nation. He received a National Society of the Sons of American Revolution Emergency Medical Service Award in 2009 and the Three Star of Tennessee Award in September of 2018 which honors first responders. He attended Middle Tennessee State University and received his Associates Degree in Paramedical Science from Volunteer State Community College.

Clark started his career in emergency services in 1992 as a paramedic for Rutherford County EMS. While working with RCEMS, he created the Rutherford County Special Operations Response Team which became a full-time technical rescue team in 2006. This team was designed to respond to major disasters, specialized rescues, and provide assistance to other agencies in situations that may require specialized equipment and personnel.