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As reported late last week, Dewey Fire appointed Jacob Cox to be the new Chief for the fire department after serving as the Interim Chief for a few months.

Cox said he was honored to get the support from the crew at Dewey Fire last week when an in-house election was held. Cox was born and raised in Dewey and graduated from Dewey High School in 2010. He said he joined Copan Fire in early 2011.

The fire service career took a bit of a detour. Cox had a daughter and she took priority. Cox said he rejoined Copan Fire in 2013. He said he was there until 2018.

Dewey Fire was going through a big turnover in 2018, and with his daughter going to Dewey Public Schools, Cox wanted to work closer to home and serve the community. For two years Cox served as Dewey Fire's EMS Officer before being elected to serve as the department's Chief. Cox was named the Interim Chief of Dewey Fire after it was announced in late-April that former Chief Chad Schueler had resigned from his post.

Cox has also served the community as an EMT with Bartlesville Ambulance for approximately five years. He is currently a Paramedic student at Tri County Tech and they are getting ready to start clinicals.

Training will be one of Dewey Fire's top priorities moving forward. Cox said the fire service changes every day. He said materials of structures has changed, meaning homes burn quicker than they used to. This has made training even more important than ever before.

Cox added that he would like to get new equipment for the Dewey Fire Department. Like the constant changes in the fire service, Cox said the equipment firefighter’s use is changing, too.

For the full interview with Chief Cox, click here.

We will have more from Chief Cox in the days to come.