Dearborn Mayor Michael A. Guido in February, 2004, announced the appointment of longtime Dearborn Fire Department veteran Nazih Hazime as the city’s Fire Chief. Hazime had served as a fire department lieutenant since 2002, and took over for former Fire Chief Michael Birrell. Hazime has been a Dearborn firefighter since 1984, and he and his wife, Laurie, have been residents of Dearborn since 1978. In his role as a fire department lieutenant, he was a key player in instructing, leading and training department members in all aspects of firefighting and fire department management, such as technical rescue, fire suppression and EMT functions. Given that background, it’s easy to see why he identifies continuing the department’s emphasis on firefighter skills training as a top priority. Hazime has received awards in 1986, 1995 and 1996 for service beyond the call of duty, and also received the 1997-98 Dearborn Firefighters Burn Drive charity organization’s award for outstanding dedicated service. He has led, and assisted, in firefighters’ daily in-house training and with incident scene management, overseeing fire department engine companies at numerous structure fires around the city. Hazime has served as a member of the Fire Department’s Technical Rescue Team, and as a member, and later as team leader, of the Western Wayne County Hazardous Materials Response Team. Some of his professional training and educational credentials are: 2004, accepted to the National Fire Academy, a four-year executive fire officer program. 2001, Eastern Michigan University Fire Staff and Command School. Associates Degree in Fire Science from Dearborn’s Henry Ford Community College. Firefighters Training Council, incident safety officer, fire pump operator, fire officer I, II and III. Specialized training in homeland security/community preparedness issues. Michigan State Police Academy Hazardous Material Training, specialist level. Michigan Urban Search and Rescue (light/medium structural collapse incidents, medium/heavy collapse technician, confined space rescue, medical emergency operations and trench rescue) and Toronto program for high-rise firefighting. Chief Hazime chairs the fire department’s health and wellness committee and serves on the City of Dearborn’s city employee wellness committee. In his off-duty time he conducts safety education programs at public, private and special education schools.