MUSCATINE, Iowa — Three Muscatine firefighters have been promoted  and a new firefighter/paramedic joined the Muscatine Fire Department this month.

The chain of command changed when former chief Steve Dalbey retired Oct. 2, after nearly 30 years with the department, which opened up the positions. Assistant chief Jerry Ewers was appointed chief on Oct. 19.

Ewers has selected Capt. Mike Hartman to fill the position of assistant chief.

Lt. Brian Abbott has been promoted to captain and firefighter/paramedic Harold Bennitt has been promoted to lieutenant.

Candidates applied for the promotions and went through an interview process and fire scenario testing. Ewers evaluated the applicants by their scores and also took into account their ranking, seniority, education and experience. There were 12 internal applicants vying for the positions.

New face

John Appelbaum, formerly of St. Louis, joined the department Nov. 16. He was one of about 10 applicants for the position.

Appelbaum, 35, is a former officer from the Chesterfield Police Department in Chesterfield, Mo., who left that job about a year ago for paramedic specialty training at the University of Iowa. He completed his ride training time with the Muscatine Fire and Ambulance service.

Appelbaum was sworn in Thursday night at the Muscatine City Council meeting.

An internal ceremony will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday in the fire department’s day room and the promoted employees will be sworn in by Mayor Dick O’Brien and Ewers will do the badge pinning.