Jeffrey M. Happ was named Chief of the Columbus Division of Fire on February 9, 2021, after nearly 28 years of service in nearly every corner of Columbus. He had served as Interim Fire Chief since May of 2020.
Happ was hired on June 14, 1993 and was assigned to Ladder 1
on Fourth Street in the Arena District.
He was there until 1998, when he was promoted to lieutenant. After approximately a year at Station 10 in
the Franklinton area, he was permanently assigned to Engine 7 in the Weinland
Park neighborhood, southeast of OSU’s campus.
After being promoted to captain in 2003, Happ was assigned
to Ladder 26 for a couple years before becoming the Fire and Explosives
Investigative Unit Commander in 2005. He
graduated from the Columbus Division of Police Academy class 109. All of the fire division’s fire investigators
go through police training and carry the authority to investigate and make
arrests in crimes related to fire and explosives. Happ takes great pride in the work he and his
office accomplished while he was there, consistently increasing arrest and
conviction rates.
In 2013, Happ transferred to Ladder 13 at Arcadia and
Indianola and remained there until his promotion to Battalion Chief, where he
was assigned as a Relief Officer. He
spent most of his time in Battalion 4 on the city’s south side.
In July of 2018, Happ was promoted to Assistant Chief and
was assigned to the Training Bureau. He
was responsible for overseeing Recruit Training, In-Service Training, Officer
Training, Paramedic Training and Public CPR/First Aid Training. He also was involved with improving and
developing Leadership Training and organizing the division’s first Fire Cadet Class. The Cadet Program is a training program to
allow part-time civilian student interns to learn the career of a
firefighter. They earn Ohio Firefighter,
EMT-Basic and Fire Safety Inspector certifications while in the two year
program.