Steve Cooley sworn in as new Medina fire chief

New chief brings 37 years of experience in fire and emergency medical services

Photos by Tom Rivers: Steve Cooley salutes retired Medina fire chief Tom Lupo after Cooley was sworn in as new fire chief on Monday. Cooley’s wife Becky is at wife and held the Bible for the oath of office.

Provided photo: Steve Cooley is the new fire chief for Medina.

MEDINA – The Medina Fire Department has a new fire chief to lead the only career fire department in Orleans County.

Steve Cooley has served the Medina FD for 15 years and has 37 years of experience in fire and emergency medical services. Cooley has been the officer in charge at the department since Matt Jackson stepped down as chief in June. Jackson now works as a firefighter in Batavia.

Cooley has been a lieutenant with Medina since January 2019. He thanked his family for their sacrifices in a career that has often kept him from family celebrations.

Cooley started his career as a junior firefighter with the Middleport Volunteer Fire Company in 1988. He rose through the ranks at Middleport and served as chief there from 2007 to 2010. He joined Medina as a firefighter/paramedic in 2010.

Cooley was sworn in as the new chief after being appointed by the Village Board on Monday evening.

He thanked his parents and siblings for “believing in me and letting me chase my dreams.” He has wanted to be a firefighter since he was a little kid.

Cooley said he has been very fortunate to have many mentors, instructors and officers who have been influential in his career. Tom Lupo, who served as Medina fire chief from 2016 to 2019, attended Cooley’s swearing in. Cooley said the retired chief is at the “head of the list” of mentors for the new chief.

Cooley leads a career department with 16 other full-time staff. That is down by four from the spring when the Village Board reduced four positions in the department. The board said it needs to reduce the operating costs for the department, which responds to about 2,500 calls a year, the vast majority of which are EMS.

Cooley said he will strive to give the department the tools and training it needs to serve the community.

And for people in the Medina community, “rest assured we will meet your needs in times of emergency,” Cooley said in remarks after his swearing in.

Steve Cooley’s son Steven pins the collar brass on Medina’s new fire chief during a ceremony on Monday at the Ridgeway Town Hall after the Medina Village Board appointed Cooley as the fire chief. Cooley’s daughter Andrea is at right and his wife Becky is at left.

Cooley will be paid $77,000 as the fire chief. In addition to serving at Middleport and Medina, he worked for Lasalle/Rural Metro Ambulance from 1992-2005, becoming a paramedic in 1997. He later worked for Mercy Flight as a flight paramedic from 2005-2010.

In Medina as lieutenant, he oversaw the EMS operations. He also was the Medina Fire Department representative to Orleans County EMS Council (currently vice chairman), the Big Lakes Council, representative for Orleans County Crisis intervention team steering committee, and current vice chairman of the Orleans County Local Emergency Planning Committee.

He has been a fire investigator since 2018 for Orleans County and the senior investigator for the Medina Fire Investigation Unit. Cooley also has been municipal fire instructor, youth fire setter interventionalist, past president of Medina Professional Firefighters IAFF Local 2161 and past president of the Medina Firefighters Benevolent Association.

Steve Cooley is congratulated by Village Trustee Scott Bieliski after Cooley was appointed Medina’s fire chief on Monday.