As Snohomish Regional Fire Chief O’Brien to retire, Fire District 4 volunteers its own

Meet candidates-

On Sunday, June 8, there will be a Snohomish Regional Fire and Rescue fire chief candidate meet and greet open to the public. The meeting will start at 5:30 p.m. and will take place at SRFR Station 31, 163 Village Court, Monroe.
There are five candidates currently.
Original story below:

MONROE — After 34 years as a firefighter and 13 as a fire chief, Kevin O’Brien announced his retirement from Snohomish Regional Fire and Rescue.
O’Brien announced his retirement in April and will officially conclude his five-year tenure as fire chief with SRFR on July 15.

Search for a new chief
The next steps for hiring a fire chief could go in a couple of directions. SRFR hired the GMP consulting firm to look for internal and external candidates. The first round of candidates were evaluated on May 28.
The candidate pool was trimmed from 11 to six, but no final decision was made at the May 28 board meeting, Peter Mongillo, SRFR’s public information officer said.
A new proposal submitted by Snohomish Fire District 4 (FD4) could see the temporary sharing of duties. The proposal, submitted May 13, suggests having current FD4 Fire Chief Don Waller share the duties of fire chief for both agencies for a five month trial-period. FD4’s letter describes it as “an administrative test” to place Waller as interim chief of SRFR while dually working as FD4’s chief.
“Our board of commissioners is taking (this proposal) into consideration, and had a discussion at the last board meeting,” Mongillo said.
A joint meeting between the boards of FD4 and SRFR was scheduled for Tuesday, June 3 at 5:30 p.m. at SRFR’s board room and on Zoom to discuss the idea further. SRFR is currently “keeping discussions open with FD4,” according to Mongillo.
Over the weekend, Waller passed on an opportunity to comment for this story.
A final decision on the fire chief selection is scheduled to be made by the middle to end of June.

All in the family
O’Brien’s decision to become a firefighter came from the family. His uncle and great uncle were both Seattle firefighters and that quickly prompted him to take up an interest in the profession at a young age.
“I used to listen to my uncle talk about the job and it just sounded incredible,” O’Brien said. “And when I was a kid visiting a fire station, I never wanted to leave, and it just seemed like the perfect job to me as a child.”
In 1991 O’Brien started his career with the Auburn Fire Department, now known as Valley Regional Fire Authority, and in 2012 he earned his first fire chief position with the Orcas Island Fire and Rescue.
“I was really excited. I was really eager to have some new responsibilities and get to work in a great community. And I was excited and nervous, frankly,” O’Brien said, recounting his emotions when he took the Orcas Island job.
O’Brien gave credit to his mother, Coleen, and wife, Nancy, for their support during his career. Coleen was an elementary school principal. This is where O’Brien learned how to treat the members of his staff not just as fellow employees, but as a cohesive team.
“(My mom) was the ultimate servant-leader, and she would just do whatever she could to support the kids and support the teachers, basically support the mission. Everything to help the children learn and feel successful,” O’Brien said. “Watching her as a learning-leader, if I could be a small part like her, I would feel successful.”
Nancy acted as the rock and stabilizing force for O’Brien through many long and stressful days on the job, he said.
“Without her advice, her guidance, her leadership, life would’ve been much more difficult for me as a firefighter and fire chief,” O’Brien said.
Mike Messer, an assistant chief with SRFR, recalled an instance where O’Brien displayed his trademark kindness. Messer, the North Carolina native, received his job offer to work at SRFR in February 2016. Although the job itself was exciting news, the real exciting moment was how O’Brien shared it with him.
O’Brien told Messer he wanted him “on (his) team.” Messer had worked for multiple fire departments in the past, but had never been told he was wanted on a team before.
“This is where he was always able to humanize the business machine and make you, the individual, feel wanted,” Messer said.
In retirement, O’Brien looks forward to spending more time with his family, and watching two of his sons, Keenan, who works for the Marysville Fire District, and Daniel, who works for South County Fire, create their own paths in their firefighting journeys.
And just like their dad, the two boys’ journeys revolved around family.
“(My sons) spent a lot of time in the fire stations, and my best friends are firefighters that I’ve worked with, and they’re like family, they’re like brothers and sisters,” O’Brien said. “They saw that as kids growing up, so they had a similar trajectory as me.”

This story was produced by a journalism student at the UW News Lab for the Tribune. Danny Williams is a senior.