By Daniel Walker
The City of Commerce has named Brian McNevin to be the town’s next fire chief. McNevin is currently serving as a deputy fire chief in Missouri for the Southern Stone County Fire District based in Kimberling City. He also serves on the Kimberling City Board of Aldermen.
“I’m excited about coming to Commerce,” McNevin said Wednesday by phone from Missouri. “We‘re in the process of moving now.”
According to Commerce Public Information Officer Marty Cunningham, McNevin will begin his duties on July 28 as Commerce’s fourth fire chief in the past 15 years. McNevin has more than 30 years of firefighting experience and served as an EMT in Tyler, as fire chief in Canton, served as emergency management coordinator for Van Zandt County and as a firefighter/EMT in Kilgore.
He is also certified as an Advanced Firefighter, Advanced Fire Investigator, Fire Instructor II, EMT and EMS Instructor.
Commerce officials said they were impressed that McNevin was able to reduce Canton’s ISO rating from a 6 to a 4 over a two-year period, which resulted in the reduction of residential property insurance premiums by 20 percent.
McNevin also was able to procure $176,000 in funding for Van Zandt County to purchase HazMat, WMD, mass casualty equipment, body armor for the sheriff’s department and replacement for the City of Grand Saline’s communications equipment.
McNevin said that he looks forward to the new challenge and feels confident that he can successfully coordinate a team effort that will strive to provide the highest level of service and professionalism to the City of Commerce and the community.
