Hoover mayor appoints Clay Bentley as city's new fire chief

Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato tonight announced that he is appointing Hoover fire Battalion Chief Clay Bentley as Hoover’s new fire chief, effective 8 a.m. this Friday morning, Sept. 1.

Bentley is following Chief Chuck Wingate, whose last official day is Thursday before he moves into retirement after 42 years with the Fire Department.

Bentley has served with the Hoover Fire Department for more than 20 years. He started as a volunteer firefighter in Thorsby in Chilton County at age 18 and then as a volunteer with the Montevallo Fire Department while he attended the University of Montevallo.

After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in business management in 1991, he spent five years as a full-time firefighter with the Birmingham Fire Department before joining Hoover’s department in January 1997. Along the way, he picked up an associate’s degree in fire science from Jefferson State Community College  in 1994.

Bentley served five years as a firefighter and paramedic at Station 4 on Municipal Drive, and then four years as a lieutenant at Station 5 in Bluff Park and Station 1 in Green Valley. He then was promoted to captain and spent three years at Station 6 near Deer Valley, four years at Station 4 and one year at Station 3 in Riverchase. In January 2016, he was promoted to battalion chief and put in charge of health, safety and training.

Brocato, who himself spent 42 years with the Hoover Fire Department before retring as a battalion chief and fire marshal in 2015, tonight said he chose Bentley because he’s an outstanding person who has the experience and skill to do the job and the right temperament for a fire chief.

“He’s just a level-headed individual,” Brocato said. “He’s just the type person we want leading our department.”

Bentley is respected not only within the Hoover Fire Department but throughout the state, Brocato said.

He can build on the foundation laid by previous fire chiefs Ralph Sheppard, Tom Bradley and Wingate and take Hoover to the next level, Brocato said. “He’s got all the tools that you need, all the important skills and experience.”

Bentley said tonight he is excited to take on the role of fire chief. “It’s an honor, and a very humbling experience to be chosen,” he said. “My family’s excited. Everybody in the department is excited. I think it’ll be a challenge, but I think it’s going to be something great.”

Bentley said Chiefs Bradley and Wingate did a great job before him and left the department in excellent shape.

One of his biggest goals is to spend a lot of time developing more great leaders in the department to help continue moving it forward, he said. The department has lost its chief and three battalion chiefs to retirement in the past 2 ½ years.

Brocato said the formal swearing-in ceremony for Bentley will be at Tuesday’s City Council meeting on Sept. 5. A reception will be held for Bentley afterward, he said.

Bentley has a wife, Julie, and three children: Brooks (7), Anna Bell (5) and Abby Ross (3).