Fountain Hills Rural/Metro Fire Chief Randy Roberts has announced that an assistant chief/fire marshal has been hired for Fountain Hills

Roberts said Dave Ott will fill the vacancy left as a result of changes from the recent passing of Fire Chief Scott LaGreca.

Ott is a 21-year fire service veteran who previously worked for Rural/Metro and was fire marshal for Fountain Hills in 2004 to 2005. Most recently he worked for the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community Fire Department as deputy fire marshal.

In that job he had oversight of fire code for the Talking Stick Resort and the Salt River Fields baseball complex.

His experience also includes wildland fire operations and he was one of the first to respond to the Rio Fire in 1995.

Ott has also served as a fire investigator and is currently secretary for the Arizona Fire Marshals’ Association. He is also the vice chairman for the Valley Fire Marshals’ Association. He has taken course at the National Fire Academy Emergency Management Institute.

Ott also said he takes pride in also learning at the “University of LaGreca,” through his association with the late fire chief.

Ott is also a 13-year resident of Fountain Hills.

He will begin work in Fountain Hills on Monday, Aug. 12.

Roberts said Ott was one of 18 applicants for the job and was easily moved to the short list of three highly qualified candidates. He said applications came from all across the country.

Ott is one of the few applicants who had the fire prevention expertise along with the fire ground command experience they were looking for, according to Roberts.

“Dave is a long-time resident of Fountain Hills and he brings with him a wealth of knowledge and experience that will greatly benefit our fire department,” Roberts said.