Little Rock fire chief to retire after 8 years at helm

Agency can use ‘fresh eyes,’ he says

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/JOHN SYKES JR. - HP Cover - Little Rock Fire Chief Gregory Summers.
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/JOHN SYKES JR. - HP Cover - Little Rock Fire Chief Gregory Summers.

Little Rock's fire chief will retire after eight years on the job that have included the department receiving accreditation and the highest possible insurance rating, the chief announced Thursday.

Gregory Summers, 57, will stay on until another chief is hired and transitions into the position. City Manager Bruce Moore said he plans to review the job's qualifications before beginning a national search in the coming weeks.

Moore hired Summers in 2009 as the city's 12th fire chief and its first black fire chief. Hired in at a $110,000 salary, Summers is scheduled to earn $133,980 this fiscal year.

"It's time for the city to find some fresh eyes to look over this organization," Summers told a crowd of city employees Thursday morning at the department's Central Fire Station on Chester Street. "I don't think there's anything else I can do."

Summers and Moore discussed their mutual goals of getting the department accredited and getting the department's Insurance Service Office rating a level of 1, the highest possible. That rating came in 2016 and the accreditation was announced Thursday, minutes before Summers publicly disclosed that he would retire.

Moore said he will look for a new chief who will maintain the accredited status, which is up for review in 2022, but did not indicate that he had additional goals for a chief.

"We've got a great Fire Department, and I want to continue that excellence," Moore said.

The department is the city's second-largest, behind the Police Department, employing 423 people and operating under a budget of about $50 million, Summers said.

In eight years, the Fire Department has received the highest possible Insurance Services Office score, which means residents pay the lowest homeowners' insurance rate related to fire; received accreditation for the first time; started a Citizens Fire Academy; established a junior cadet program for high schoolers in the Little Rock School District; successfully pushed for a city sales tax increase to fund city programs, including fire stations; built and rebuilt fire stations; and created a bicycle Emergency Medical Services team to speed up response times in certain areas.

During that time, Summers also investigated why firefighters responding to a gas leak after a tornado didn't search a nearby home where two people had been killed by a felled tree, leading to changes in search protocol after large-scale storms in 2011. In 2013, Summers was among numerous city officials sued over the hiring of a dispatcher who failed to route a 911 call through the proper channels in a car crash that eventually resulted in the death of a mother and her son. The department also received criticism in 2015 after Summers decided to shut down Alexander Apartments just before Christmas because of what he had determined were unsafe conditions.

Before being appointed chief in May 2009, Summers was the interim fire chief and, before that, assistant fire chief. He has worked 34 years with the department and is a Pine Bluff native.

Summers also has served as president of the Arkansas chapter of the National Forum for Black Public Administrators.

Thurman "Bo" Hagar, the department's accreditation manager, said Summers has been a supportive fire chief who looks to his employees for advice.

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Little Rock Fire Department Chief Greg Summers is congratulated by his mother, Sarah, after announcing his retirement Thursday during an event at the Little Rock Central Fire Station. Summers led the department to a national accreditation and ISO Class One status during his eight years as chief.

"From my point of view, it's sad to see him go," Hagar said.

Metro on 08/04/2017

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