{"id":91715,"date":"2017-08-22T08:34:41","date_gmt":"2017-08-22T13:34:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=91715"},"modified":"2017-08-22T08:35:20","modified_gmt":"2017-08-22T13:35:20","slug":"mayor-swears-in-new-van-wert-firefighter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2017\/08\/22\/mayor-swears-in-new-van-wert-firefighter\/","title":{"rendered":"Mayor swears in new Van Wert firefighter"},"content":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n

Payne native Gary Gasser was sworn in Monday as a Van Wert firefighter during a ceremony held in City Council Chambers.<\/p>\n

\"\"
New Van Wert Firefighter Gary Gasser (right) takes the oath of office from Mayor Jerry Mazur while Gasser’s mother, Rose, holds the Bible.<\/strong> Dave Mosier\/Van Wert independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gasser, who recently completed his one-year probation period with the fire department, had previously spent six years with the Payne Volunteer Fire Department before being hired at Van Wert.<\/p>\n

Fire Chief Jon Jones said Gasser was the \u201cquickest hire I\u2019ve ever seen in the City of Van Wert,\u201d noting that the Payne resident came in to do some \u201cride time\u201d with the fire department when the city was looking to hire a new firefighter and the person above him on the eligibility list had just taken himself off the list.<\/p>\n

Jones, who was then a fire captain, and now retired fire chief Jim Steele then pulled Gasser in for an interview and hired him on the spot.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe came in to do ride time and left with a full time job,\u201d Chief Jones said.<\/p>\n

Van Wert Mayor Jerry Mazur administered the oath to Gasser while the new firefighter\u2019s mother, Rose, held the Bible on which he placed his hand while repeating the oath.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Firefighter Gary Gasser’s girlfriend, Cassie Baker, pins on his badge during a swearing-in ceremony held Monday.<\/strong> Dave Mosier\/Van Wert independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gasser\u2019s girlfriend, Cassie Baker, then pinned on his new firefighter badge to make his promotion official.<\/p>\n

Gasser, who started as a level 1 basic firefighter a year ago, said he had to undergo some additional training to earn his current status as a level 2 firefighter. Being a level 2 firefighter is necessary to be a full-time firefighter. Gasser also had to become familiar with all of Van Wert\u2019s fire trucks and ambulances, as well as their related equipment.<\/p>\n

In addition to having EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) certification, Gasser is also certified for hazmat situations.<\/p>\n

The new Van Wert full-time firefighter said he has always wanted to be a firefighter.<\/p>\n

\u201cPretty much since I was a kid when I saw the first fire truck drive past my house,\u201d Gasser said, adding that he has also wanted to work for the VWFD since he became a firefighter.<\/p>\n

\u201cVan Wert\u2019s got nice stuff and half the guys on my shift were my instructors through my fire school and it always seemed like a good place to work — and it is,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

When asked what he was looking forward to with the VWFD, Gasser said simply: \u201cTwenty-nine more years.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/independent editor Payne native Gary Gasser was sworn in Monday as a Van Wert firefighter during a ceremony held in City Council Chambers. Gasser, who recently completed his one-year probation period with the fire department, had previously spent six years with the Payne Volunteer Fire Department before being hired at Van Wert. Fire Chief […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-91715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-21 22:22:26","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91715\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}