By ALEXANDER SIMONE

Staff writer

For the second time since Nov. 14, Marion County has named a new EMS director, this time one with local ties.

Travis Parmley comes to the position from Great Bend, but he is originally a resident of Florence.

“I’ve been impressed with what’s going on in Marion County,” he said. “I have a lot of friends and family there, so I still have a vested interest in the growth and sustainability of Marion County.”

An alumnus from Marion High School’s class of ’98, Parmley got his start as a cadet with the Florence Fire Department.

“That’s where I started,” he said. “Then I came out here and learned a lot, gained a lot of knowledge.”

While in Great Bend, he served with the fire department and won the department’s firefighter of the year in 2010. He was only allowed to win the award once, but he increased his standing again when he was promoted to captain in 2012.

Great Bend Fire/EMS logs 2,200 EMS calls per year, with each responder averaging 250.

Parmley’s highest total came when he logged 340 calls, earning the top call award for the department. He has five years experience as a paramedic, but knows there is room to grow.

“I can’t say that I’m going to come in and make any big changes because I have a lot to analyze,” he said. “I think they have a good thing going, I really do. I’m excited to keep the part-timers, they play an important part.”

What impressed county commission chairman Dianne Novak was Parmley’s experience with Great Bend’s larger population of 15,000.

“Being in an area that had a larger population, they had more calls, so he had more experience and more situations,” she said. “Therefore, he has a lot more knowledge under his belt to handle situations as they come up, because he’s probably been through more than we have here.”

“We’ve spent a lot of time at the county lake for the last decade,”

Parmley left Florence in April 2004, and worked for the department in Great Bend until accepting Marion County’s EMS post.

“It was the opportunity to go to a full fire/EMS department, that was my goal,” he said. “Great Bend was the first place I applied, and I stuck it out for almost 15 years until this opportunity to come home.”