New fire chief making his mark on the beach
Matt Love has been around firehouses for much of his life, whether it be in the home state of Colorado or here in Southwest Florida.
So even though he’s only 35, Love, who was named the new fire chief of Fort Myers Beach in January to replace interim chief Tom May, brings with him lots of experience and leadership skills that he has already put to the test.
Love said in his short time here, he has already made an imprint with his hands-on approach to his job.
“So far, so good. I’m a young guy, so I like to still go out there with the guys. Because of that, I get to see the firefighters a lot more, work with them and be on scene,” Love said. “We’ve developed a rapport, our administrative staff has been going through a lot of exercises to get this team to become a well-oiled machine.”
Love started in fire service as a teenager in the Colorado Springs area, where he spent nearly his entire life. He found his career, and he would spend 11 years on the Colorado Springs Fire Department, a major metro area with about 500,000 people.
In 2008, Love got his first fire chief position in Cimarron Hills, a suburb near Colorado Springs, before expressing an interest in coming here late last year.
Love said it wasn’t just the beaches that brought him to the Beach, but he seemed to be the person the fire district was looking for.
Love said the district was looking for someone who can run things efficiently and reorganize, then work up a very young squad and reinvigorate the next generation of firefighters.
“They were looking for some transformation in leadership and reorganization to get things moving the right way,” Love said. “It spoke to me. I matched what they were looking for.”
Love calls himself a “leadership junkie,” with master degrees in leadership at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, with an emphasis on leadership in fire, as well as degrees in emergency management.
“That’s handy with our area prone to storms. It was good for blizzards in Colorado, it will be good for hurricanes here,” Love said.
Love said the great thing about working in a small district as Fort Myers Beach is that he acts as a combination chief and manager. There’s no city to feed off of for facilities. In a sense Love is the CEO of his own business, making personnel decisions and making budgets.
“That attracted me to a special district. It’s where I was in Colorado. It requires a special skill set unlike a municipal fire department,” Love said.
Love is currently setting his first budget for the district. He said the district, like many, went through many tough times during the economic downturn, with capital improvements being put on the back burner.
“Our assessed value is coming up to where we can get our operations back to where they were,” Love said. “Our apparatus is getting ready to be replaced. I’d like to think with our future assessed value increases, we won’t have to raise the millage.”
Love is reworking the financial planning and make sure they can sustain operations. He will set up models for response time and soon be able to spit out a price tag for the district to maintain operations.
Love said he sees Lee County firefighting transforming with the retirement of some of the old guard. He sees a level of progression with the new chiefs.
“They’re trying to put together a cohesive system. We’re tearing down borders where no matter what, the closest truck will respond, no matter what patch is on their shirt,” Love said. “It’s something this county can look forward to.”