COVINGTON, Ga. – The Covington Fire Department (CFD) has officially promoted Joe Doss to permanent fire chief.

Doss was initially the department’s interim fire chief, a role that he took on in July 2023. The promotion, according to Doss, took place at some point in December 2023.

While the promotion can be overwhelming for Doss, at the same time he has found it exciting. 

“It’s overwhelming at times, sometimes you get into situations and you’re included in some conversations you weren’t included in way back when and now it’s starting to make sense of some of the stuff you heard,” Doss said. “Other than that, [I’m] able to try and make a positive difference with the city and with the fire department. Trying to get everyone to move into one direction again – it’s invigorating.”

Doss has been in the fire service for 25 years, with all coming in the city of Covington.

His time with the fire department began with working in suppression. Starting in 1998, he went from firefighter to engineer to lieutenant.

But as he got older, Doss wanted to prioritize spending more time with his family – especially his two daughters.

This ultimately sparked a move to the administrative side for Doss.

“As I got older, my girls – I have two daughters – they got older and they were starting high school and I wanted to spend time with them,” Doss said. “I saw a means to be home in the evenings, every evening to the best of my ability and was able to transfer over from suppression to the admin side through the fire marshal’s office.”

Doss was then promoted to the assistant fire marshal in 2013 for four years, overseeing fire inspections and assisting with fire safety education. He was later promoted again in 2017 to deputy chief fire marshal where he oversaw code enforcement as well as fire investigations.

During his time as interim fire chief, Doss held the deputy chief fire marshal role simultaneously to the interim fire chief role. However, that will now change as part of the CFD restructuring.

Former assistant fire marshal, Robert Canady, has been promoted to deputy chief fire marshal while Wes Daniel has been promoted to fire marshal officer – bringing the fire marshal division back to full staff.

Doss also stated that more position fillings will be on the way, with the battalion chief position set to be filled in the coming weeks. The position was vacated in October following the retirement of Bryan Jackson.

The city of Covington’s newest fire chief never saw himself as wanting to be the department head throughout his career, but it is a door that he says he has embraced.

“I never really looked at myself as trying to become the department head, the fire chief, things like that,” Doss said. “But when something opens a door for you and you’re willing to take that step through and take that chance. That’s what I’m willing to do.”