SPCFPD – DEPUTY FIRE CHIEF


	Several months ago the fire board of the Southern Park County Fire Protection District decided to open up a new part time paid position, deputy fire chief.  The main purposes for the new position are to groom a new fire chief and to give the current chief some much needed time off.
	According to fire Chief Gene Stanley about 80% of the fire chief’s job is political, with social networking, political contacts and office work being extremely important, and 20% is the “fun stuff”, out in the field on incidents.
	The fire board made it very clear that this position could only be funded for a year, with a yearly review to see if funding would still be available after that time.
	A deputy chief’s job description was created with the deputy chief helping the chief in all duties including, but not limited to writing incident reports, recruiting, training and retaining of volunteers, equipment repair and maintenance, and acting as chief in the chief’s absence.  The job description also included a list of minimum requirements for the position.
	According to fire department policy, the position was first opened up to current interested volunteers within the department who met all the requirements.  Every volunteer got a job description and could then submit an application and resume to the board by July 14th.
	The board also appointed a selection committee to review the applications and resumes and to interview all the candidates and to bring a recommendation for one of the candidates back to the board.  The final decision about hiring a candidate was up to the board of directors.
	Four volunteers submitted applications, fire fighter Ron Oliver, current non-paid deputy chief Randy West, Lieutenant Aaron Mandel and Lieutenant John Adams.
	All resumes were reviewed and each candidate was asked a list of the same specific questions as well as any questions that came up during each candidate’s interview.  All candidates were asked to react to and write up an incident report about a made up accident scenario.
	Two of the candidates were eliminated because they did not fully meet all the requirements for the job, Ron Oliver and Randy West.
	Debate went back and forth between the remaining two well qualified candidates with the fire board interviewing each of the two another time.
	Finally, a decision was reached to hire Lieutenant Mandel for the new deputy chief position with a three month probationary period and a review to see how things are going with the new deputy, the board and the rest of the department.
	Mandel brings a lot of training and experience to the position.  Most recently he spent the winter in Missouri and Minnesota doing prescribed fire burns for the Nature Conservancy.  Mandel has also helped Chief Stanley put together the fire departments national wildfire program.  This program is for local fire departments who have engines and personnel qualified to go out on large national wildfires and get paid by the federal government.  Last year SPCFPD sent out its qualified type 6 engine and crew to California for wildland fire suppression there.
	Mandel has lived in the Guffey area most of his life and is very committed to SPCFPD and wants to make fire fighting his career.  Mandel brings many new ideas to the department including a junior fire fighting program with recruitment at the local high schools.  The idea is to get young people interested in fire fighting and to give them some minimal training.  Who knows, perhaps they will stay with the department.  Mandel would also like to see more social activities within the department and with the local community to promote more unity and camaraderie. All work and no play you know.
	Congratulations on your new appointment and good luck in the new job.

FIRE BOARD MEMBERS – Sam Calanni, president
				Jim Tubbs
                                                Amy Mason
				Anita Long, treasurer
				Kathy Boettcher

SELECTION COMMITTEE – Gene Stanley, Chief
				   Larry Lepage, executive officer
				   Davis Tilton, Chief engineer
				   Kathy Boettcher, Captain
				   Sam Calanni