Allegheny emergency chief resigns

Allegheny County's first emergency services director will resign next month to take a top job with the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency.

Bob Full accepted an offer to become chief deputy director of the agency, a post that will make him second in command to agency Director Glenn Cannon, a former Allegheny County manager.

"Chief Full is one of the finest emergency management operations people in the United States," Cannon said in a statement Wednesday. "I am honored that he has agreed to come to PEMA as we struggle to rebuild our agency."

Full's last day with the county will be March 6. He did not return calls for comment.

Cannon chose Full for the job with the approval of Gov. Tom Corbett. His salary will be $121,500 a year.

Full, 56, of Swisshelm Park started working for Allegheny County in January 1998. He began his emergency services career at 18 as a firefighter with the Forest Hills Volunteer Fire Department, where he's still a member. He became a paramedic with one of Pittsburgh's first paid crews in the 1970s.

Full is one of only three directors who has worked under both County Executive Dan Onorato, a Democrat, and his predecessor, Jim Roddey, a Republican.

"Chief Full and his department have continually led the way in emergency preparedness," said Onorato, who noted Full served as chairman of the Region 13 Task Force, a collaborative of county emergency management officials in Western Pennsylvania.

In 2005, Full oversaw the merger of the city and county 911 emergency dispatch systems.

A spokeswoman for the labor union representing county 911 dispatchers praised Full as "uniquely qualified" for his new job.

"We have worked with the chief through good times and through times of crisis. We believe that his 35-plus years of experience speaks for itself," said Leah Wright, a spokeswoman for Service Employees International Union Local 668.

No decision has been made on who the county's interim emergency services director will be. Onorato plans to conduct a search to find a permanent replacement.