Syracuse gets new fire chief two days later than expected

SYRACUSE — Eric Froerer received a standing ovation Thursday from firefighters, residents and even three of the four City Council members who two days earlier voted to leave the city without a fire chief for 48 hours.

Froerer, a longtime flight paramedic with University of Utah AirMed, was officially hired as chief of the Syracuse Fire Department during a special City Council meeting Thursday night. The action came roughly two months after Chief Craig Cottrell resigned for legal and medical reasons, and just two days after interim Chief Bruce Peterson abruptly quit during a council meeting.

Peterson was expecting the City Council to formally hire Froerer on Tuesday night, but City Councilwoman Karianne Lisonbee made a motion to table the issue to allow the city to explore the option of contracting with Davis County for fire service.

The move came as a surprise to Mayor Jamie Nagle and Froerer, who attended that meeting with his family — and dozens of firefighters — expecting to be introduced as the new chief.

Councilmen Matt Kimmel, Craig Johnson and Larry Shingleton went along with Lisonbee's suggestion to delay the decision for two weeks to allow the county to make its pitch for taking over fire service.

City officials, including Police Chief Brian Wallace, were blindsided by Lisonbee's suggestion. The first-year councilwoman said she had been meeting with county officials about contracting with the sheriff's office — which currently doesn't offer fire service — because it would save the city "a very significant amount of money."

Frustrated by the delayed decision, Peterson stepped up to the podium Tuesday night and quit.

"I'm done," he told the council, noting that he was a part-time employee and had no interest in serving as chief. "I'm done as of tonight. I'm not going to do this anymore."

He then gestured to Lisonbee and said, "Maybe she can run it."

Lisonbee was a no-show Thursday night for the special council meeting to bring the issue to another vote. Councilmen Kimmel, Johnson and Shingleton all changed their votes Thursday, joining Councilman Doug Peterson in a unanimous vote to hire Froerer.

The vote came after a spirited public hearing that included firefighters and representatives from the public safety community expressing their support for the city's hiring of Froerer and the current direction of the fire department.