New Kelowna fire chief ready for action

Don Plant The Okanagan Saturday 2010-11-13
After long stints as firefighter in the Canadian Forces and the tarsands, Jeff Carlisle can add Kelowna to his resume.  Vernon‘s fire chief will become Kelowna‘s fire chief. The career firefighter impressed city staff enough to emerge as top candidate to replace Rene Blanleil, who resigned as chief in May. Carlisle takes over from acting Chief Steve Kinsey on Jan. 4.  "I‘m really anxious to get my boots on the ground in Kelowna and see where we can take the Kelowna Fire Department.," he said Friday.  The 53-year-old grandfather has served as Vernon‘s chief since 2008. City staff will begin recruiting a new fire chief right away, said Chief Administration Officer Leon Gous.

Carlisle has worked for more than 36 years in the fire service, including 24 years with the Canadian Forces. He served overseas in West Germany for four years and spent two years sailing with the navy as fire chief on the HMCS Fraser.  Before moving to Vernon, he worked for nearly a decade as regional fire chief in Fort McMurray. He watched the population mushroom to 100,000 from 42,000 in nine and a half years.  "Every service was in crisis because of the growth," he said. "Neighbourhoods grew up overnight. You had to keep pace with emergency responses over a growing area." Retaining staff was a steady struggle. Population growth, the harsh climate, isolation and the draw of larger cities like Calgary and Victoria meant he had to hire 100 firefighters in four years just to keep up.  "If you kept a firefighter for two years at Fort McMurray, that was considered a success," he said.   Although the Okanagan is growing, the dynamics are nowhere near the same. For Carlisle, one challenge in Kelowna will be to keep response times the same for all residents despite the urban sprawl. Another is the influx of tourists in summer.  Instead of supervising 35 career firefighters and 58 paid-on-call volunteers in Vernon, he‘ll oversee 117 firefighters and 58 volunteers in Kelowna. His salary jumps to about $130,000 a year, and the department‘s operating budget climbs to $11.7 million.  "His demonstrated leadership and management skills will be a great asset in shaping the strategic direction for the Kelowna Fire Department," the city‘s corporate services manager Paul Macklem said in a statement.  Carlisle has received a Premier‘s Award of Excellence and Alberta Centennial Medal for his contribution to the Alberta Fire Service. He has a Master of Arts degree in leadership.  "My focus is to make sure citizens of Kelowna are well served. That means keeping pace with the growth of the community and how Kelowna evolves," he said. Blanleil, who replaced Gerry Zimmermann, spoke out in September against what he called unfair media coverage of his departure. In a three-minute YouTube message, he said his reputation had been damaged by suggestions of inappropriate spending, and vowed to take legal action to clear his name.