Changes to Warren County’s fire response are continuing into 2026 as nine full-time fire personnel were sworn in Thursday morning, marking the first time in history that full-time personnel have been brought on by the county.

“All of them, with the exception of one, are directly tied to Warren County,” Warren County Fire Department Chief Bill Rector told the Daily News “They have volunteer backgrounds in Warren County.”

The nine were sworn in before the Warren Fiscal Court meeting on Thursday. The hirings include four firefighters, four captains and one battalion chief. Rector said the nine firefighters began orientation last Monday and spent Thursday and Friday completing training. The chief said they will work ten hour shifts four days a week from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

The idea is to have full-time personnel working alongside part-time employees and volunteer firefighters as well. There are no plans yet to replace part-time or volunteer firefighters with full-time employees.

“Compensation status doesn’t define professionalism,” Rector said. “We’re going to foster that relationship as best we can … we’re not we’re not treating anybody different because they get paid or they don’t get paid.”

County government last year chose to rework some aspects of the county’s fire system to fill holes in response and better serve the public.

A study from fire department consultants MissionCIT found that the county’s purely volunteer-based model led to gaps in coverage, especially during daytime hours. To solve this, part-time firefighters were brought on last year and Sept. 1 marked the first day of work for eight part-time personnel, split between the Alvaton and Richardsville departments.

Rector said the actions taken by the county last year in hiring part-time personnel and purchasing equipment was a “sprint” to get as much done before 2026 rolled around.

Now though, things are expected to slow down a bit.

“2026 and on is intended to be the marathon,” he said. “We are working to really slow down and bolster what we currently have, but make sure that we’re doing everything we need to on our end to meet the demand of the citizens.”

He said it is hard to tell now if more full-time firefighters will be brought on in the near future, citing personnel costs and the current need for more staffing.

“I suspect that there will be a need down the road, but what that timeline looks like, I don’t know yet,” he said.

Fiscal Court will convene again on Jan. 22.