Patricia Brooks Chosen to Head Forest Park FD


The City of Forest Park, Ohio, selected Deputy Chief Patricia Brooks as its fire chief in June, 2000. Forest Park is in Hamilton County, near Cincinnati, and has a population of 25,000. The fire department includes 24 career and 20 part-time personnel.

At the time of her selection, Brooks, 56, was a fifteen-year fire service veteran, starting as a part-time firefighter for the town of Montgomery (also in Hamilton County) in 1985. She became a full-time firefighter there in 1992, and moved up through the ranks to lieutenant and captain. She later became a captain with the Sycamore Township Fire Department, and then joined Forest Park in 1997, becoming a deputy chief the following year. Brooks has also worked for the past for years as a paramedic with the Western Joint Ambulance District.

Chief Brooks was chosen from among 17 applicants for the position, and replaces retiring Fire Chief Robert Stegeman. City Manager Ray Hodges said Brooks "demonstrated the best ability and objectivity to grasp the direction we want to guide the department." Among her accomplishments, he noted she had successfully applied for a grant to help recruit and train minorities for public safety service jobs.