Cedar Rapids Fire Department holds send-off ceremony for retiring chief

Cedar Rapids Fire Department holds send-off ceremony for retiring Chief Greg Smith CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — The Cedar Rapids Fire Department held an event Thursday honoring retiring Chief Greg Smith, whose last day is later this month. Smith spent over three decades serving in a variety of roles in the department, and the last seven years as chief. Smith was in the department during the historic floods of 2008 and 2016, the COVID-19 pandemic and 2020 derecho. During remarks, Smith made sure to spread credit all around the department. So very touched, but I do want to say that, any success that I have is certainly because of the men and the women of this fire department, this city, the other, there's several department leaders here, the leaders of the other departments and the city council and it truly, truly does take a team to make an organization successful," Smith said. "And I just appreciate all the support that I've had through the years. Smith recently sat down with Iowa's News Now for an at-length exit interview, which can be found here. BE THE FIRST TO COMMENT READ MORE: Cedar Rapids Fire Chief Greg Smith looks back at career ahead of retirement