New Chief for Spokane County Fire District 9 feels most at home in the uniform: ‘I see myself as an advocate for my team’

New Spokane County District 9 Fire Chief Matthew Vinci has spent the past few weeks trying to get to know the firefighters and staff in the sprawling 125-square-mile district that covers the area north of Spokane and Spokane Valley.

Vinci came to the area from Vashon Fire and Rescue on Vashon Island in the Puget Sound, where he spent the last 2½ years after relocating from the East coast.

Former Fire Chief Jim Walkowski retired last year. Vinci said he was interested in the job at District 9 because of the work that needs to be done here.

“I’ve always loved planning and building out a system,” said Vinci, who took the helm last month. “I saw that opportunity here. It was something that professionally interested me.”

He likes that the district includes a mix of rural and urban areas, and also likes the idea of not needing a ferry to go anywhere. He said he’s prepared to help District 9 plan for the future.

“We have a lot of residential construction, some commercial construction,” he said. “We’ve got to be able to plan for that growth. We’ve got to find unique solutions to serve our community.”

Vinci grew up in the northeastern corner of the United States, mostly in Vermont. He was inspired to join the fire service because of his mother, a retired nurse who was a volunteer EMT in their community. He was a junior firefighter in high school and then worked as a volunteer before he earned his fire science degree. He took a full-time job with the City of South Burlington, Vermont, fire department and never looked back.

“It was the best thing that ever happened in my life,” he said. “Early on in my career, I knew what I wanted to do.”

Vinci spent 20 years with the same department, rising from firefighter to lieutenant to shift captain. He served on the board of the Vermont State Firefighters’ Association for 15 years, the past seven as the board president.

“I did a lot of work for the firefighter labor unions in Vermont,” he said. “When I was in Vermont, we passed multiple pieces of legislation to assist firefighters.”

After 20 years as a firefighter in South Burlington, he moved to Washington, D.C., to be the director of education, training and human resources for the International Association of Firefighters. He was there for eight years, but found the constant travel draining even though he liked the work. Looking for a place to get back into firefighting work, Vinci and his wife, Amy, moved to the other end of the country to Vashon Island.

“I missed it,” he said of stepping back into firefighting work. “I missed being in uniform. I missed being in the fire houses. I just felt like I would make a difference in uniform.”

Vinci quickly made a difference in Vashon Fire and Rescue.

“We had serious staffing issues,” he said. “A lot of our fleet wasn’t safe for our staff or our community.”

Vinci completed a strategic plan for the department, getting input from staff and the community. Voters approved a levy lid lift to pay for the improvements Vinci outlined in the strategic plan, including increasing staffing, remodeling the department’s main station and purchasing two new ambulances and two new fire engines.

A big step was hiring enough firefighters to fully staff a volunteer fire station in the town of Burton that was inactive, Vinci said. Doing so reduced response times in the area and lowered the WSRB rating, which is used to set the price of homeowners insurance.

“That was a big deliverable and a big win,” he said. “I’m very proud of what we were able to accomplish in my 2½ years in Vashon.”

Vinci said he wasn’t looking to leave Vashon, but when he reached out to people he knew to ask about District 9, he heard good things. He said his job is to serve his community by providing quality service, as well as providing proper training and equipment for his firefighters.

“This is a high-risk, high-stress job,” he said. “I see myself as an advocate for my staff, my team.”

Since his arrival in mid-January, Vinci has spent most of his time getting to know people in the district. He also plans to be involved in the community by joining Rotary and other local organizations.

“My first 30 days have been meeting people internally,” he said. “I’ve had multiple station visits. This is an awesome group of people.”