By Mark Wineka

Kannapolis Citizen

The dynamics of the N.C. Research Campus and the growth that could come with it strongly attracted Ernie Hiers to Kannapolis after a career spent entirely in Florida.

“It was time,” says Hiers, who will become Kannapolis’ new fire chief Jan. 31. “If I was going to go somewhere, this was the time to go.”

City Manager Mike Legg announced Jan. 3 that the 49-year-old Hiers, now fire chief in Temple Terrace, Fla., had been chosen for the Kannapolis job after the recent retirement of Chief Larry Phillips.

The biotech research center under development will present challenges to all city departments in Kannapolis, including the Fire Department, Hiers says.

The campus and surrounding commercial development will lead to taller structures, for one. Hiers says the research campus will lead to new types of risks and, with that, new types of growth.

“I’m sure the department is already addressing some of that,” he says. “… Once you get behind growth, it’s really hard to catch up.”

Speaking from Florida, Hiers says he has met some of the Fire Department’s senior staff in previous visits to Kannapolis.

The department has 57 full-time personnel, 40 volunteers and 16 part-time workers.

The Kannapolis department is not accredited, and Hiers says it will become a goal.

“There will be a lot to prepare for before starting that process,” he says.

Hiers says he is familiar with North Carolina through many family vacations to the mountains over the years. He also has been to Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord.

“I really can’t wait to get up there and get started,” Hiers says.

Temple Terrace has a population of about 25,000 and is located near Tampa.

Legg said Hiers is “a great fit for the city of Kannapolis.

“He has demonstrated many skills during his time in Temple Terrace, including maintaining a 99 percent citizen satisfaction rating, leading that fire department to accreditation status and working in a municipality dealing with growth in ways that are similar to Kannapolis.”

Legg saw correlations between Tampa and Temple Terrace and Charlotte and Kannapolis.

Hiers and his wife, Dora, have two sons. One is in the U.S. Marines; the other, a sophomore in high school.

Hiers has been fire chief in Temple Terrace for 12 years and had been assistant chief before that for seven years. Overall, he has 25 years of experience with municipal government.

With Temple Terrace, Hiers belonged to the state of Florida training task force committee and the county’s emergency services task force. He was chairman of the Temple Terrace annexation committee and the local emergency planning committee.

Hiers has a bachelor’s degree in fire and safety engineering technology from the University of Cincinnati and a master’s degree in public administration from City University in Bellevue, Wash. He did most of the course work for those college degrees online.

Division Chief Scott Linebarger of Granite Quarry has been filling in as interim chief until Hiers’ arrival. Phillips was hired as the city’s first full-time fire chief in 1987 and had been Kannapolis’ only fire chief up to his retirement last month.

Contact Mark Wineka at 704-797-4263, or mwineka@salisburypost.com.