Five finalists named to become next Spokane fire chief

Those vying to replace longtime Spokane Fire Chief Bobby Williams will include two candidates with long ties to the region’s firefighting efforts.

Interim Spokane Fire Chief Brian Schaeffer and Spokane County Fire District 8 Chief Tony Nielsen are among the five finalists to permanently succeed Williams, who led the Spokane Fire Department for 28 years, the longest tenure in the history of the agency.

Joining Schaeffer and Nielsen on the short list of replacements are fire administrators based in the Northwest and beyond, including an assistant fire chief from Durham, North Carolina, a deputy chief from Kirkland, Washington, and a battalion chief from a suburb of Salt Lake City.

The city announced the five finalists for the fire chief job in a news release Tuesday afternoon. They are:

Helen Ahrens-Byington, deputy chief of operations, Kirkland Fire Department

Ahrens-Byington is the only female finalist for the job. She started as an entry-level firefighter in Kirkland, a Seattle suburb of roughly 88,000 residents, in 1993, and worked her way through the ranks.

Ahrens-Byington earned a bachelor’s degree in recreation management from Western Washington University in 1987, according to the resume she provided to the city of Spokane.

Jason Nicholl, battalion chief, South Salt Lake Fire Department

Nicholl has been with the South Salt Lake Fire Department since 2001, serving as a battalion chief in charge of medical operations. He was the first paramedic hired by the department, which serves a suburb of Salt Lake City with roughly 25,000 residents, according to the department’s website.

Before joining the South Salt Lake department, Nicholl was a firefighter in Salt Lake County from 1998 to 2001. He earned a bachelor’s degree in organizational behavior and health management from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City and a master’s degree in fire and emergency management administration from Oklahoma State University.

Tony Nielsen, fire chief, Spokane County Fire District 8

Nielsen grew up in Spokane’s Lincoln Heights neighborhood and served with the Port Angeles Fire Department from 1991 to 2003, when he joined Spokane County’s Fire District 8 as a division chief. District 8 covers the area south of Spokane Valley, bounded roughly by Latah Creek and Liberty Lake.

Nielsen earned a master’s degree in organizational leadership from Gonzaga University in 2008, according to his resume.

Charles “Andy” Sannipoli, assistant fire chief for administration and planning, Durham Fire Department

Sannipoli has spent his entire career with the Durham Fire Department, which serves the North Carolina city of roughly 258,000 residents. He is currently obtaining a master’s degree in project management from Western Carolina University, according to his resume.

Brian Schaeffer, interim fire chief and assistant chief, Spokane Fire Department

Schaeffer came to Spokane by way of the Yakima Fire Department in 2005, and has served as an assistant chief for his entire tenure, including stints as head of operations and emergency medical services for the department. His bachelor’s degree is in fire science from Sterling College in Kansas and he earned a master’s in public administration from the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 2000.

Mayor David Condon named Schaeffer interim chief following Williams’ retirement announcement late last year.

The finalists will be interviewed by a panel of community leaders, City Council members and fire representatives on May 11, to be followed by a community forum held at the East Central Community Center, 500 S. Stone St., at 6 p.m. that evening, according to the news release.

“The new chief will run a department that is drawing national attention for its innovative approach,” Condon said in the release. “That opportunity appealed to a diverse and very qualified applicant pool.”

A total of 28 people applied for the fire chief job, 20 of whom met the minimum qualifications for the job, the city said.

The person selected to lead the department will take over an agency employing about 330 people, according to city salary data from 2016. The fire department is in the process of hiring additional firefighters after the city was awarded a nearly $9 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency last year.