For 19 years, Scott Ingersoll has served the City of Utica in the fire department.

This week he became its provisional fire chief.

"I've held every rank on the Fire Department. I was promoted to Lieutenant in 2007, Captain in 2012, Deputy Fire Chief in 2016, and then Assistant Fire Chief back in June," Ingersoll said.

It's more than a job to Ingersoll, the Utica Fire Department is in his blood.

"My great-grandfather was here. He was on the Fire Department when they transitioned from horses to motorized fire apparatus," Ingersoll said. "My father spent 23 years here. He retired as a Fire Captain, and it's just, I've always wanted to be a Utica Firefighter. And I never thought I'd be sitting in this seat and it's such an honor and privilege to be here right now."

It's been a trying year for the Utica Fire Department but things seem to have calmed down now, and Chief Ingersoll hopes it stays that way.

"We respond to 14,000, little over 14,000 calls a year so everybody that we respond to probably expects a level of perfection out there and that's what I'm expecting of our firefighters and we're going to keep that up," said Ingersoll.

By his side is Assistant Chief George Clark.

Clark retired earlier this year, but was reinstated to the position this week.

"Everything that a fire department does, he's been involved with in his career so he definitely has credentials so I think he'll be a good chief," Clark said.

Ingersoll is evaluating the department's operations before making any changes.

The provisional fire chief and assistant chief will be in place until the results of the Civil Service exams come back next year.

The test is in January, and Ingersoll says he plans to take it.