The Clay Fire Territory announced Dave Cherrone will retire as Assistant Chief – Fire Marshal effective Friday, May 6, 2022, following more than 50-years as a public servant committed to the health and safety of our community.

Fire Marshal Cherrone will retire as the longest serving member of the Clay Fire Territory in its nearly 75- year history.

Cherrone started his career in May 1970. A life-long resident of Clay Township, Dave Cherrone graduated from Clay High School before joining the ranks of his hometown fire department as a volunteer firefighter. He was hired as a career firefighter in October 1973. While working
as a firefighter, Dave enrolled in fire science classes at Ivy Tech Community College, and
graduated in 1975 with an associate degree in fire science.

In addition to receiving his associate degree, he also became the fire department’s first emergency medical technician in 1975. Cherrone has worked most of his career from Clay Fire Station 22 located on Auten Road, including service as a lieutenant and captain.

In March 1999, Cherrone joined the administrative staff of the fire department as the captainin-charge of the fire prevention bureau. He would serve in this capacity until May 2001, when
he was named Fire Marshal. In this role, he was lead of the community services division.

Over the course of his lengthy career, Fire Marshal Cherrone was instrumental in developing
numerous community programs and initiatives. One such program was the Clay Fire Safety
House. This program taught school age children how to mitigate fire hazards in their home, as
well as survival skills in the event they ever encountered fire.

When the program was launched, Firehouse magazine was forced to create an entirely new section of their publication dedicated
to public education in effort to showcase the Clay Fire Safety House. In total, the program was
administered to more than 45,000 area children between the years of 1979 – 2002.

Division Chief Ron Melser has been named as Cherrone’s successor and will be promoted to Fire Marshal on May 9, 2022.