Mayor's Corner: Introducing Chief Ryan Fairbanks

Recently, the City of Lakewood announced the promotion of Ryan Fairbanks to serve as Chief of the Lakewood Fire Department (LFD). Chief Fairbanks has been a longtime and publicly present member of LFD, so many of you already know and appreciate him. But for those of you who have not had the pleasure of meeting him yet, I’d like to introduce you to Chief Fairbanks and explain why Lakewood is lucky to have him step into this new role. The chief is a humble man who prefers to give credit to others, so I wanted to highlight some of what makes him so well suited to lead LFD.

Chief Fairbanks has been with LFD for almost two decades, joining the department as a firefighter paramedic and serving in that role for many years. If you talk to Chief Fairbanks, he will let you know that in many ways, this was his favorite role because he was able to perform frontline service to the people of Lakewood, actively fighting fires and helping those in a medical crisis. But he also realizes that he can offer great value to cultivating the next generation of LFD firefighter paramedics in his new position, and is looking forward to continuing the tradition of excellence we have seen over time in LFD.

As much as his Lakewood career has been stellar, Chief Fairbanks’ background before coming to our city is just as impressive. He has over 27 years of firefighting experience, both professional and volunteer. That includes service with the Bureau of Fire in Dover, Delaware, the Middlefield Fire Department in Geauga County, and the Bath and Copley Township Fire Departments in Summit County. Some of Chief Fairbanks’ earliest experience as a firefighter was in the United States Air Force from 1998 to 2002, including a deployment overseas in Kuwait. He then worked as a Department of Defense civilian firefighter at the Youngstown Air Reserve Station until he joined LFD in 2005.

(In addition to his real-world experience, Chief Fairbanks also has an impressive educational background with an Associate Degree in Fire Science and a Bachelor's Degree in Fire Administration from Columbia Southern University. He’s currently working on his Master's Degree in Fire Executive Leadership).

All of this experience and education benefits our team at LFD immensely. Chief Fairbanks has been recognized as a leader in LFD for some time, where he was previously promoted to Fire Marshal in 2019. During his time in that role, Chief Fairbanks co-founded (with current Fire Marshal Ryan Birth) the Lakewood Firefighters Peer Support Team, which connects LFD members to definitive mental health care. He then worked to bring in the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF) to Lakewood to train 30 firefighters from the region as peer supporters. 

Chief Fairbanks has expressed a number of priorities as he takes over leadership of LFD. Those include finding ways work more closely with other departments (e.g., Building and Housing, Police, Public Works, etc.) to plan and troubleshoot matters before issues arise and to continue providing best in class service to our residents. Also, fire departments are now expected to take an all-hazards approach and diversify their response capabilities. Chief Fairbanks is looking forward to cooperatively planning for those responses to ensure the appropriate use of LFD’s resources. 

I look forward to working closely with Chief Fairbanks to keep Lakewood safe as he and his team at LFD protect us in times of crisis while also proactively working to prevent emergencies. I know the chief plans to be even more visible in his new role, so say hello and when you see him around Lakewood.