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Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett plans to conduct a national search to find a replacement for outgoing fire chief Thomas W. Carr Jr., who is leaving the county to the lead the Charleston, S.C., fire department.

However, Carr believes the county's fire and rescue department has adequately experienced leaders to fill the position.

"One of the most important testaments to my level of service has been whether there are people internally prepared to do the work," Carr said. "I'm retiring about six years earlier than I planned to retire, and I think there are people within the organization prepared to be chief."

Carr was scheduled to meet Tuesday with Timothy L. Firestine, the county's chief administrative officer, to outline plans for Carr's retirement. Carr is expected to begin his duties in November; his final day in Montgomery County has not been set.

The national search will also include an opportunity for community input, Leggett spokesman Patrick K. Lacefield said.

"There are a million things left to do in the [county] fire department: fire stations, continuing staffing of trucks, continuing focus on response times, the ambulance transport fee," Carr said. "And next year's budget will be challenging. We've laid a foundation and got some of the tough stuff in place. Now it's time to get in maintenance mode for some things and not sit back on our laurels."

The new chief will also preside over continuing improvements to oversight of the department's overtime policies and procedures, as well as reining in overtime costs, which were cited in an Inspector General's report last year.

Carr was in South Carolina on Monday with Charleston Mayor Joe Riley for the announcement to the city council and the city's firefighters.

In his new position, Carr will preside over a fire department of 246 firefighters in 19 fire companies in a city of 126,000. The all-career department does not run ambulance calls.

He leaves a Montgomery County department that has grown to more than 2,000 personnel and a budget of more than $195 million.

Carr, 54, was appointed Montgomery County's first fire chief in 2005, when the system was reorganized with career and volunteer firefighters and a simplified command structure.

Although the county made a nationwide search, then-County Executive Douglas M. Duncan selected Carr, who was the chief of the Division of Fire and Rescue Services, the highest ranking career officer.

The 2005 overhaul eliminated the position of fire administrator held since 1998 by Gordon Aoyagi, who went on to head the county's Homeland Security Department before retiring in June.

Carr drew praise from Marcine D. Goodloe, president of the county's Volunteer Fire Rescue Association.

"Due to his leadership of conciliation between volunteers and the county it has strengthened the public and private combination service," Goodloe said in a statement. "Clearly Chief Carr recognized and supported the combination system of Montgomery County and he will be missed." 

Carr — who is from the Charleston area and whose parents live there — beat out six other finalists in a six-month national search for the position, said Mark Ruppel, spokesman for the City of Charleston Fire Department.

Carr replaces Rusty Thomas, who stepped down just before the release of a report that criticized his handling of a furniture store fire that claimed nine firefighters on July 18, 2007, according to the web site, Firehouse.com. The report cited numerous failures including training and operations.

After that blaze last year, Carr invited Charleston's fire command staff to Montgomery County for training at its facilities.

"They are in a position where they need real focused leaders. They lost nine firefighters in one fire incident, which would be the equivalent of us having 44 firefighters die in one fire incident here. That's catastrophic," Carr said. "I interacted with the troops at the street level in Charleston [on Monday] and that confirmed my position that this is a good thing to do. Those people are still hurting and they need a good deal of support, and that's my leadership style."

County Councilman Philip M. Andrews, chairman of the council's Public Safety Committee, said he was sorry to see Carr leave.

"He will be a great addition to any department as chief," said Andrews (D-Dist. 3) of Gaithersburg. "Here in Montgomery County he brought vision and tremendous knowledge of the force, and forged excellent working relationships with all aspects of the fire and rescue community."

Staff Writer Margie Hyslop contributed to this report.