Roush recently was named Acting Jamestown Fire Department Chief. P-J photo by Michael Zabrodsky

The gentle nudge Ryan Roush received to take the civil service test to become a firefighter has led him to having more responsibility.

A lot more.

At that time, he was a volunteer firefighter with the Panama Volunteer Fire Department, working at a local factory, and a co-worker’s husband happened to be Jamestown firefighter.

“But she kept saying to take the test. You should do it,” Roush said.

And in 2006 he took the civil service test, and was hired by JFD in 2007.

“It was just something that fit,” Roush said.

Recently, Roush was named acting chief of the Jamestown Fire Department. Before being named, Roush had made his way up the ranks at JFD. When Roush graduated high school, he began to pursue a degree in criminal justice, but found out it was not a good fit for him. So he spent time working at a factory, doing construction, and waiting tables, before landing at JFD.

Roush likes the sense of duty. And while employed with JFD, Roush also became a registered nurse.

“I enjoy helping people,” Roush said. “The variety of work we (firefighters), the calls we go on are all over the spectrum, as far as whether it’s medical or a fire or pumping water out of a basement.”

In all sorts of weather.

“Yes – 24/7 – in the dark, during the day, and during the rain and snow,” Roush said.

Now as the acting chief, Roush has plans for JFD.

Being the face of JFD, Roush said he is in a position to influence the future, and direct where the department will go.

“We’ve got a lot of younger, newer men and women (firefighters),” Roush said.

According to the city’s website, jamestownny.gov, the city’s professional firefighters operate around the clock, seven days a week, ready to respond to fires and emergencies at a moment’s notice. In addition to their emergency response duties, staff and firefighters also conduct training sessions and community outreach programs to benefit both fire personnel and the general public. JFD also boasts specialized fire investigators who are trained to determine the causes of fires within the city. As prevention is key, these investigators routinely inspect buildings and other structures for fire hazards. Operating under a paramilitary structure, JFD’s chain of command ascends from firefighter to company officer, battalion chief, and chief. The department comprises four platoons, each assigned to staff four companies: three engine companies and one ladder company.

In an April 1 Post-Journal article, it stated the fire chief title was reinstated a few months ago following the retirement of Matthew Coon. The duties of the fire chief stated in the code are “to ensure that the laws of the state and the local laws and ordinances of the City of Jamestown are enforced in the City. He/she shall maintain discipline and efficient organization in the Fire Fighting force of the City, and he/she shall have the power to appoint, suspend from office and to remove from the force any fire officer or civilian employed in the Fire Department who is incompetent or guilty of neglect of duty or misconduct in office or who for other reason is a bar to the efficiency and discipline of the firefighter force, which removal shall be subject to civil service laws and under the regulations of the local Civil Service Commission.”

He was hired in February 2007, and was promoted to lieutenant in 2016, and in 2022 he was promoted to battalion chief.

“It’s really an honor that the department’s been entrusted to me to run it,” Roush said. “I have the support of both the administration and the firefighters.”

Now as chief, there is one aspect of the job he does miss.

“It’s important to have that person there, organizing and keeping stuff together, but I don’t get to go inside the burning buildings as much anymore,” Roush said.