A Gilmer Fire and Rescue (GFR) firefighter/EMT is proud and honored to be named the county’s new deputy fire chief.
Jason Bryant has been with the fire department since 2021 and most recently led its C shift as battalion chief. Bryant previously worked almost 27 years with the Henry County Fire Department.
“We look forward to the valuable insight and experience that Chief Bryant will bring to this position. He is a well respected instructor throughout the fire service community and will be huge asset to our growing department,” said a fire department statement.
“I’m honored to be considered for this role. It’s definitely not something I had foreseen,” Bryant said. “I’m also honored to serve this community, which just feels like home. It’s weird to have been at a place for 27 years, then come somewhere else for two years and say that, but it’s home to me now. I’m thankful for everybody putting trust in us and appreciative to Chief Kauffman for giving me this opportunity.”
Mark Chastain, the department’s longtime deputy chief, has transitioned to working as a school resource officer in Union County.
“He’s going to be greatly missed, and he left some huge shoes to fill. I’ll do the best I can,” Bryant said.
Most recently, Bryant was a lead instructor for GFR’s new recruit training academy. The program gives recruits an opportunity to receive on-the-job training as they work toward attaining their firefighter and EMT certifications.
Bryant said he’ll still be involved in that training, but, with the promotion, Battalion Chief C.J. Morris is now lead instructor for the firefighter portion of the program.
Those enrolled in the new recruit academy’s second class are nearing the halfway mark of their cumulative training. They recently completed live fire and vehicle extrication exercises and will soon take their national firefighter certification exams before starting EMT training.
“Every single one of them is now state certified in structural fire control, which is amazing,” Bryant said. “They’re two weeks away from testing for their first national certifications, (which include) Firefighter 1, Firefighter 2, Hazmat Awareness and Hazmat Operations. They’ll have all four of those within about a week and a half.”
As deputy fire chief, Bryant will be in charge of arranging training for department employees. He said several firefighters are now in the process of wrapping up some national certification training.
“A couple of weeks ago, we had about 12 people become nationally certified in fire apparatus operation. We’ll (soon) have about 10 testing for Fire Officer Two, which is a really big deal to have that,” Bryant said.