Festus Fire Chief Travis Wood was fired Monday, Aug. 29, after just more than five months in the job, city officials reported.
“Mayor (Sam) Richards terminated (Wood’s) employment with the city of Festus this morning,” City Administrator Greg Camp said that day.
He would not release any other information about Wood’s firing.
Wood, 31, of Blackwell would not comment about being fired and referred questions to his attorney, Allison Sweeney.
She said Wood, who hired the department’s first female firefighter, was fired for trying to diversify the staff.
“Diversifying the staff was a top priority of Mr. Wood, and he has hired female firefighters and advocated for them to have the same educational opportunities as the male firefighters,” Sweeney said. “Mr. Wood is dedicated to the equal treatment of firefighters regardless of gender. He was terminated for his efforts.”
Three of the Festus Fire Department’s captains – Jeff Brown, Brian Schlicting and Chris Spradling – will share administrative duties for the time being, Camp said.
He said no target date has been set to hire a new fire chief, adding that city officials had not decided if they would look to promote someone from within the department to the top job or conduct a wider search for candidates.
Camp said Wood’s annual salary was $64,000.
The city promoted Wood to the fire chief job on March 14 to replace Kevin Cremer, who died Jan. 24, 2021, after an extended battle with COVID-19.
At the time of his promotion, Wood had worked as a firefighter for 12 years, including the previous four years with the Festus Fire Department. Prior to his promotion, he was a firefighter and public information officer for the department.