Meet city of Corpus Christi's new fire chief
The city of Corpus Christi named its new fire chief on Friday.
Brandon Wade, currently an assistant chief in the Austin Fire Department, will assume the role after a nationwide search, City Manager Peter Zanoni said during a news conference. Wade will succeed Robert Rocha, who served in the department for 11 years and retired in January.
Wade will be formally appointed to the position by the City Council on Tuesday.
For the search, the city used Emergency Services Consulting International, a recruitment firm that is a division of the International Association of Fire Chiefs.
Wade was among 30 candidates for the role. Those candidates were narrowed to four finalists, who went through extensive interviews and attended a community engagement session. Panels of interviewers included firefighters, a captain, a battalion chief and the president of the firefighters union.
Wade joined the Austin Fire Department in 1998. He oversees the operations division, the biggest in Austin’s department, with 900 personnel — about double the number of Corpus Christi’s firefighters — and 51 fire stations, compared to Corpus Christi’s 18.
“His span of control, his amount of responsibility, is significant. It’s huge,” Zanoni said. “We’re excited that he’s going to bring that experience here to this great city.”
Wade is responsible for emergency response not only for the city of Austin but also for 16 agencies in the area.
He has served as the chief of homeland security and special operations in Austin, Zanoni said. He was responsible for planning and management of the department’s annual budget of $145 million.
He has overseen wildfire operations, airport operations, communications and dispatch, medical operations, recruiting, fleet management and special operations, including hazardous material, tactical response and water rescue.
He was awarded the Austin Fire Department Medal of Honor, the highest honor given in that department.
Wade has an associate degree in fire science and a Bachelor of Applied Science in emergency management from West Texas A&M University.
Lengthy resume aside, Zanoni said, Wade’s “enthusiasm and his passion and his charisma” were a big selling point for the interviewers.
The ability to inspire employees is “not something everybody has,” Zanoni said. “It’s not something, necessarily, that you can learn. It’s an innate skill.”
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This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Meet city of Corpus Christi's new fire chief
