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Cardinal Joint Fire District promotes three to captain
By ROBERT CONNELLY
CANFIELD
The Cardinal Joint Fire District Fire Board promoted three men to the rank of captain Monday night.
They are, in order of seniority, Robert J. Tieche Jr., Troy F. Kolar, and Conner T. O’Halloran. They have been with the department full-time 13 years, eight years and three years, respectively.
Tieche is the son of longtime Fire Chief Robert Tieche, who died May 28, 2011.
Tieche said of that family connection: “It’s a difficult thing to I guess express in words, but I’m just trying to follow what my father did and bringing the service to the fire district.”
Tieche had been serving as the EMS director, an administrative role, and fire district Chief Don Hutchison said it will be determined what will happen with that role after Tieche’s promotion. It is also yet to be finalized which man will be a captain at each of the district’s stations.
Fire Station 1 is on the third floor of Canfield City Hall, 104 S. Lisbon St. and Station 2 is on Messerly Road in Canfield Township. The district pays both of those entities $1 a year for rent. The third firehouse, which is yet to be built, will be at one of two locations on Herbert Road.
Both potential properties are within a half-mile of each other and are similar acreage. One is an outright land purchase while the other would be a lease. The board authorized Hutchison to sign the contract with the project’s architect, Balog, Steines, Hendricks and Manchester Architects Inc. of Youngstown. The board had previously approved Hutchison to sign a contract with the architect in March, but had yet to finalize the details of the contract with the architect until recently.
The architect will receive a percentage of what the actual final project cost is.
Kolar and part-time firefighter and paramedic Brian Blevins were honored by Liberty Mutual Insurance with its Firemark Award. That is presented throughout the country to firefighters “who best represent their communities through courageous acts and who best demonstrate the firefighter’s selfless spirit,” a news release explained. The two were honored for their actions on the Ohio Turnpike during a fatal accident last November.
Kolar and his wife, Alissa, began a nonprofit organization called First Responders First Inc. that focuses on roadway and occupational safety as well as safety training and proper equipment for first responders.
“Today nobody is the same in our department, but I know each of the families each had their challenges,” Hutchison said of that fatal crash. Blevins and his wife had a child shortly after that crash, and Kolar and his wife began the nonprofit.
“Both of these gentlemen will be put in for a national award, which can offer a $10,000 grant to the Canfield fire department ... and word on the street is you guys have a pretty good shot,” said Joey Mills, a local representative of Liberty Mutual.