With the deadline passed to apply for the available fire chief position in the city of McMinnville, the process of weeding through the dozens of applications received and narrowing the field has begun.By the Dec. 29 deadline, 69 applications were received.“There are some extremely qualified individuals in the group,” said city administrator David Rutherford. “We did get some who were more qualified than others.”When it comes to minimum qualifications, more than half of those who applied had what was necessary.“We had between 40-45 who were qualified for the position,” Rutherford said. “The remaining did not meet the minimum requirements.”The process to narrow the number down began with the establishment of three piles — those who do not meet the minimum requirements, those who just barely met all the requirements, and exceptional candidates.When asked if the last pile will be under consideration first, Rutherford replied, “Of course.