Roanoke County Administrator Thomas Gates announced yesterday that Deputy Chief Joey Stump will serve as acting Roanoke County Fire & Rescue Chief, effective April 1. Current Fire & Rescue Chief Richard Burch announced his retirement in September. Burch’s last day is March 31. Stump began his fire service career in 1979 as a volunteer with the Bent Mountain Fire Department and Rescue Squad. He served as volunteer fire chief with the organization before being hired as a career firefighter with the Roanoke County Fire Department. Since then, he has worked his way up through several battalion chief and division chief positions until he landed in his current position as the division chief for homeland security.
