MONROE — Ending a roughly two-year search, the Monroe Fire Dept has a new chief and it is a very familiar person: Interim Chief Al Rufer.

The former interim chief for the past two years will be quitting his day job to lead the department full time. But despite the fire department’s rocky history at the top, Rufer said he feels a new era of rebuilding was started when he took over the helm on a temporary basis.

“I have essentially ran the department for the past two years,” Rufer said on Monday, following the announcement that he is taking the helm after lingering issues around the fire chief’s post, most obviously the fact that there wasn’t a chief.

City officials, however, credited Rufer with providing some stability at the top during that time.

“During the last two years, Chief Rufer and his team have consistently provided top-notch service to the city and surrounding communities,” city officials said in a statement announcing the hiring Oct. 6.

The release went on to describe Rufer’s accomplishments, including his ability to secure grants, such as the EMS Flex Grant, as well as continuing the operations, budgeting, and staffing of the department; in a tough environment for first-responders nationwide.

“Chief Rufer joined the Fire Department in 1993 and worked through the ranks to be promoted Deputy Fire Chief in 2018,” the official statement said. “The PFC and City of Monroe are eager to continue providing top of the line fire and emergency services and ask you to join us in congratulating Chief Rufer in his permanent(newest) role.”

Despite the time serving the department, Rufer has worked his job for 23 years at Precision Drive and Control — even though during the past few, he also held the job of acting chief. 

The city Police and Fire Commission last August voted to open the application process after it had been closed for nearly a year, as the search for a new fire chief was on hold while a city committee looked at potential changes to the operations and structure of Monroe’s Fire Department.

Ultimately, an ad-hoc committee formed to address fire department issues disbanded, making several recommendations but taking no formal action and deciding to leave the structure of the all-volunteer department intact.

The city has been without a full-time fire chief since April 2022 after William Erb abruptly resigned three months into the job. Rufer was named interim fire chief shortly after, his second time in the role.

Rufer said he thought long and hard about the chief’s job, even as he was doing it as an interim chief. It did not take long, though, until he felt more comfortable in the new role and that led to him to put himself into the ring last summer, along with about 20 other applicants for the job this time around. 

“I just thought, ‘I am never going to have this opportunity and chance to do something like this in my hometown,’” he said. “I’m glad and honored to have the position.”

He also thanked PDC for their patience and understanding as he helped lead the Monroe department at a critical time. In 2022 alone, Rufer said, the volunteer department responded to about 300 calls.

Rufer, who said firefighting runs in his family, expects to take over the chief’s job sometime in November — those details are still being worked out.

“The department’s operations and training are solid,” said Rufer. “I have been making incremental changes for two years but I have not been able to do what a full-time chief can do.”

As for the department, Rufer said the biggest challenge remains staffing. Still, he added, “the Monroe department is getting younger and we are building our numbers.”