Charleston (W.Va.) Fire Chief Grant Gunnoe steps down as the department’s chief on May 12 to become the director of Charleston’s Office of Emergency Services and Homeland Security. A successor to the fire chief position has yet to be named.

The OES position to which Gunnoe moves was created in 2001 to allow one individual, reporting directly to Charleston’s mayor, to oversee the city’s fire and paramedic departments. Gunnoe has been employed by the city for more than three decades, working first as a dispatcher and paramedic, then joining the fire department in 1978. He has been chief since 2002.