Luis Santiago was sworn-in as the Chief of the Toledo Fire and Rescue Department at a ceremony this morning in Chub de Wolfe Park. Santiago succeeds Chief Michael Wolever who retired July 1 after 33 years of service to the City of Toledo.
Wolever administered the oath to Santiago as part of the ceremony and presented him with the Chief’s badge, a badge Wolever noted was passed down to him from former Chief Bell. Chief Santiago’s wife, Ann, secured the new credentials to his uniform.
Toledo City Council on June 28, 2011 voted unanimously to confirm Mayor Michael P. Bell’s appointment of Santiago as Chief. Santiago comes to the job with 27 years of firefighting and incident command experience. He leads a department of over 500 firefighters as well as civilian dispatchers, arson investigators and administrative staff.
Chief Santiago joined the department in May 1984 and was promoted to Lieutenant in 1988, Captain in 1993, Battalion Chief in 2000 and Assistant Chief in 2007. A strategic incident commander, Santiago oversaw the Toledo Fire and Rescue Department’s delegation of responders in the aftermath of the devastating tornado that struck Lake Township, Ohio in May 2010. During the recovery effort the department managed confined space search and rescue, dive search team and fire response coverage. Chief Santiago also served as incident commander for Toledo Fire and Rescue’s response to the 2010 building collapse at the Fremont Co. in Fremont, Ohio and the ADM grain elevator fire in September 2010.
Santiago holds various certifications from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Incident Management System, the National Fire Academy and the United States Coast Guard. He additionally serves on the Advisory Board of the State Fire School at Bowling Green State University, the Board of Trustees of Knight Academy and is a former trustee of the Toledo Firefighter Health Plan.
Chief Santiago is a Toledo native and attended St. Patrick Heatherdowns grade school and St. Francis de Sales High School, where he later coached football for 26 seasons. He went on to attend Defiance College before joining the fire department. Santiago and his wife Ann have three adult children and two grandchildren. |