Chief Kevin Rausch was born in Flemington, New Jersey and resided there until he joined the United States Air Force in the winter of 1986 where he served as an airframe structural repairman working on F-15’s, C-130’s and Huey Helicopters. After his discharge, he moved to Tacoma, WA briefly with his ex-wife until he returned to Flemington in 1989. He later moved to Florida where he has resided since March 1994.

He began his fire service career with the Flemington Fire Department in 1986 and remained active with them until he moved out of New Jersey. While in New Jersey he also was an EMT with the Flemington Raritan First Aid and Rescue Squad. While residing in Florida has volunteered for the Tri-County Volunteer Fire Department and then the Royal Volunteer Fire Department in Sumter County until they merged into what is now known as Sumter County Fire and EMS. While serving with the Royal VFD he rose through the ranks from firefighter to acting Assistant Chief before becoming a volunteer firefighter with the City of Clermont while pursuing his State of Florida EMT and minimum fire standards. In November 2003 he became the Fire Inspector for the City of Clermont.

In 2006 he was awarded the Lake County Fire Inspector of the Year by his peers and then in 2007 he was awarded the Florida Fire Inspector of the Year.

Chief Rausch is a member of the Florida Fire Chiefs Association and the Lake County Fire Chiefs Association. He participates in the operations group, safety/training group and prevention groups.

Chief Rausch has served as a member of the Montverde Fire Department since April 2013 where he started as a firefighter/EMT and then he became a Captain in July 2013, he was appointed the Assistant Chief in December of 2013 and took over as Fire Chief in February of 2014.

Since becoming chief, the fire department was awarded it’s current ISO Rating of 3 and was successful in maintaining that rating during the last inspection this year (2019). Along with Mayor Wynkoop he was instrumental in acquiring a reserve fire engine and a ‘new to us’ chief vehicle and has maintained personnel staffing on a primarily volunteer basis.

Congratulations, Chief Rausch!