Chief o' the year: Fire mag picks Werner


FILE PHOTO BY JEN FARIELLO

Charlottesville claims more bragging rights: Fire Chief magazine has named Charles Werner 2008 Fire Chief of the Year. Werner started as a city firefighter 30 years ago.

11 comments

What a joke! The man's only been firechief for a year and probably hasn't finished his local evaluation (or just barely). I wonder if the designation has anything to do with how many subscriptions a locality takes out or how many ads.

BTW, how reputable is a magazine that's going to have a Chief of the Year award for 2008 when there's still four months left? Suppose he got arrested later this year, would they have a runner-up to replace him? Awards have certainly become either run-of-the-mill or ridiculous. Maybe the city has bought thousands of dollars worth of tickets to the awards ceremony.

This should be a novel way to justify a 10% increase in property values and increase taxes this year. Because the current market sure isn't. Or maybe 15%. The city needs more money. Maybe we can go back to the city decals on the windshields. They can be red and read Home of The Fire Chief of the Year, and be priced at $60 or $75 each now.

Having said the above, and on a more serious note now, I wonder how many residents will see a decrease in their property values this year? There has to be decreases to reflect the true market values now.

The twin geniuses of the Charlottesville blogosphere strike again. Good lord, you morons, get a life and stop your filth-spewing for just one day will you?

Ed in Belmont, please look up the word "filth" before washing the next fire engine.

Cville Eye, the old crank who wouldn't know a fact if it hit him in the face. What a genius. Never done jack for this community and just complains and rants.

How many lives have you saved in your career Cville Eye. Oh, that's right, none. We are fortunate to have Chief Werner running the CFD and helping keep our city safe.

That's it, Ed in Belmont, forget about his lies and create your own history. I imagine there may be several Eds at the fire station and you're making sure the 2008 Fire Chief of the Year knows which one to give the bonus to this year.
BTW, exactly how many lives has the Fire Chief of the Year saved in his 30-year career (please substantiate this figure better than he substantiated his repeated allegations that CARS had serious response time deficits that needed the CFD's supplementing their efforts with a start-up budget greater than CARS annual budget). Yes, I'm an old crank, but I'm not an old fool.

"All of a nominee's fire service activities and accomplishments will be considered, but, because this is the Fire Chief of the Year award, special emphasis will be placed on the period from mid-2003 through 2007. A nominee's command role at a major emergency incident, while relevant, will not be enough to place that individual into contention for the award." http://industryclick.com/microsites/index.asp?srid=11826&magazineid=157&...
So they evaluated his Chiefing over the years of 2003 - 2007? Need I say more?

Cville Eye you have one major hard on for old Chuck! Who really cares what awards he wins.

Ed, I don't know Charles Werner. He could very well be the best fire chief in the entire nation. All I am saying is the city will most likely use any and all of Werner's awards to market Charlottesville as one of the best places to live in America. And this is the same city that, for tax purposes, already has my residence assessed at $50,000 more than I can sell it for tomorrow. Calculate in your own mind just how badly the city taxpayers are getting raped now with every property in the city assessed at $25,000 to $75,000 more than they are actually worth.