Ontario fire chief resigns from position
Terry Mairs stepped down last week
By Katie Pizza
Argus Observer
Tuesday, November 4, 2008 10:08 AM PST
Ontario — For the second time since this summer a top Ontario official is gone after Ontario Fire & Rescue Chief Terry Mairs apparently resigned.
Ontario City Manager Henry Lawrence said Mairs’ resignation became effective Thursday.
While city officials said Mairs apparently resigned, Lawrence indicated that he made the move to ease the fire chief out of the slot.
“I decided to make a change and bring in new leadership,” Lawrence said in a phone interview Monday.
Mairs had been with the department since 1982, when he came onboard as a volunteer. In an interview when he took the position as chief, Mairs said he became involved in emergency services after attending a family reunion camping trip in the mountains, when a child who was riding a motocross vehicle was injured after it crashed. Mairs said he felt helpless looking at the child, who was assisted by another adult was at the reunion who happened to be a paramedic. Mairs then enrolled in EMT classes to ensure that he would never feel helpless in type of situation again. Prior to coming to Ontario to take over a radiator shop from his aunt and uncle, Mairs trained become an emergency medical technician and joined an ambulance association in Soda Springs, Idaho, where he lived.
“He grew in responsibility over the years,” Ontario City Councilman John Gaskill said of Mairs in a phone interview Monday. Gaskill said he tries to stay in contact with department staff, but said he had not spoken to Mairs recently and was surprised by his resignation.
“I hadn’t met with him for awhile,” he said. “I don’t know what his reasoning was.”
However, Gaskill spoke highly of Mairs’ contribution to the city.
“I think he did a good job for the department,” he said. “I think that he led it well. I think that we had good leadership from him.” Mairs became deputy chief in 1997, before assuming the role of chief in January 2006.
Allan Higinbotham, who is serving as Mairs’ replacement, has served as a deputy state fire marshal and spent 10 years as a fire chief in Central Point, Ore.
“He has been a resident of this area for over 20 years,” Lawrence said.
Gaskill said he knows Higinbotham because he taught some of Higinbotham’s children in Ontario High School and is familiar with Higinbotham’s time as a deputy fire marshal.
“I know him,” Gaskill said, “but I haven’t been around him for awhile.”
Ontario Mayor Joe Dominick said he learned of Mairs’ resignation through an e-mail from Lawrence. In the e-mail, Dominick said, Lawrence said Mairs’ resignation became effective Thursday. Gaskill said he also received an e-mail from Lawrence regarding Mairs’ resignation. Lawrence expressed support for the 25 years Mairs spent with the city of Ontario.
“We’re really thankful for what he’s done for the city,” he said.
Dominick said he, and he believed the rest of the council, appreciated Mairs’ work.
“We all wish him well,” Dominick said in a phone interview Monday.
Neither Mairs nor Higinbotham could be reached for comment at press time.
Good Work rest of the story wrote on Nov 18, 2008 12:57 PM: