Troup County is officially looking to hire a new fire chief, who will replace Dennis Knight. The job was officially posted on Friday and has no closure date, although the county hopes to have a new chief in place by July 1.

Knight has been the county’s fire chief for about four years and has served the fire department for more than three decades.

He’s a local who has worked himself up the ranks of the fire department and has taken on a difficult role, overseeing a department that responds to thousands of calls each year. In 2017, the fire department responded to more than 3,000 calls.

Although he won’t be chief, Knight isn’t leaving the fire department.

He’s moving into an EMA director and training position.

We haven’t reached Knight for comment, but County Manager Eric Mosley said that’s the part of Knight’s job he enjoys most.

If that’s the case, we wish him the best in his new role.

As that transition takes place, the community will have its eyes on the hiring of a new chief. It’ll be the second fire chief hire in the area in the last 12 months, as LaGrange hired John Brant last year.

Funded through SPLOST, the county fire department will soon have a new administration building and a renovated station 12, which shows the community’s investment in the department.

We wish Mosley and county leaders luck as they conduct the search. With the growth in this area in recent years, we expect there will be great interest in the position.

We also encourage the county to be as transparent as possible in the search, keeping the community up to date on the number of applicants, finalists and the pace at which it’s going.