SALISBURY, Md. - The City of Salisbury announced Rob Frampton as the city's new fire chief on Tuesday following an extensive search.
"This is what I have worked toward my whole life, so there is a tremendous amount of pride," Frampton said. "It is a tremendous opportunity and it's very humbling."
Frampton has been with the Salisbury Fire Department for 24 years, starting as a volunteer and a paramedic, and progressed through the ranks. He has previously served as an assistant chief and most recently as acting deputy chief. Frampton has a master's degree in emergency health services and is a 2022 graduate of the National Fire Academy's executive fire officer program. Earlier this year, Frampton was chosen to be a member of Leadership Maryland, a statewide professional development program that focused on issues that impact economic development, the environment, education, people's health and more.
"This shows others in the department that you can join as a volunteer, work your way up, get the education and training you need, be in leadership and even become the fire chief in the end- all right here," Frampton said.
The city says Frampton was chosen as chief because he understands the challenges the department faces, like the expansion of services to meet ever-increasing demands and call volume. Frampton looks forward to addressing these types of challenges with the help of the department's leadership team and has already identified three more big ideas he'd like to embrace: taking advantage of new and existing technology, focusing on the health and safety of members of the fire department and paying attention to the team's mental well-being.
"I'm focused on bringing a family philosophy to the department. Every shift or work group I have been part of has been a family," Frampton said. "I feel like there is a direction we can take to make sure that we have a department of 100-plus that is one large family."
He replaces John Tull, who announced in October that he would be stepping down to take the role of deputy city administrator. Tull retired from the fire department Nov. 30.