Hannigan was appointed to a three-year term effective Nov. 14, 2018, and he will receive a salary of $10,000 a year. He is expected to work a minimum of 1,500 hours a year, or about 20 hours a week, according to his contract.
A fourth-generation firefighter, Hannigan has always been around the fire service in one form or another.
“Growing up, my dad was a volunteer firefighter,” Hannigan said. “He’s 92 now and he still attends the monthly fire company meetings.”
Hannigan recently found out that his great-grandfather served at least five years, from 1903 to 1908, in the volunteer fire company that served his hometown of Stony Point, N.Y., about halfway between West Point and New York City. In addition, his grandfather, who worked in the garage of nearby Bare Mountain State Park, also had a secondary assignment as a firefighter.
“It’s pretty neat to realize that you have that tradition,” he said.
Hannigan said he originally came to Ohio to attend the University of Dayton. He left school in 1973 to begin his public safety career with the city of Oakwood, serving as both public safety officer, and eventually, a public safety sergeant.
In 1984, Hannigan became the city of Lebanon’s first full-time fire chief. At that time, Lebanon was an all-volunteer department, and Hannigan guided the evolution into the combination part-time and full-time department.
After coming to Lebanon, he also met his wife, Donna, who was also a volunteer firefighter.
The Hannigan firefighting tradition continues as both of his sons are in the fire service in Warren County. His son Matthew is a full-time firefighter with the Deerfield Twp. Fire Department and is also a part-time firefighter with the Union Twp./South Lebanon Fire Department. His other son, Kyle, is a part-time firefighter with both departments.
During his career, Hannigan earned associate’s degrees in liberal arts and in fire science. However, after he retired as Lebanon’s fire chief in March 2014, he completed his bachelor’s degree from the University of Dayton.
After retirement from the city of Lebanon, Hannigan found that he missed serving the community and being active in the fire service, which led him to apply for the position in Franklin Twp.
“I missed being around firefighters and helping people,” he said. “I saw the opening, and I thought it would be a good fit.”
He said his wife was surprised that it took this long to return to the fire service.
Hannigan and Snively were finalists in the last selection process in which Snively was tapped for the position.
Now that he’s the fire chief, Hannigan said Franklin Twp. “is lucky we have the number of people who are willing to serve” and that the focus will be to recruit people and keep them trained.”
“It’s hard to find people and it’s hard to find volunteers or people to work part-time,” he said.
Hannigan has a number of state certifications including Firefighter 2, Basic EMT, fire instructor, fire inspector and for live burns.
Snively, who continues as the assistant fire chief for the Middletown Division of Fire, cited “recent medical issues with both my wife and I and the obligations of my full-time employment” led to his decision to step down, according to his resignation letter obtained by the Journal-News.
Township officials are planning several opportunities for the community to meet Hannigan in the coming months.
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