City’s new fire chief reports for duty

Cheryl Wierda - Kelowna Capital News Published: January 04, 2011 6:00 PM 
Kelowna’s new fire chief is on the job.  Jeffrey Carlisle, who was previously Vernon’s top fire official, began work with the Kelowna Fire Department on Tuesday, replacing Rene Blanleil, who left the post in May.  “I’m really excited,” Carlisle said. “It’s a great city, it seems to be a professional department.” Carlisle spent much of his first day with the former interim fire chief, Steve Kinsey, familiarizing himself with the territory the department covers, meeting the career firefighters on duty and visiting the volunteer halls in the city.  In the short term, he said his goal “is to learn and to understand all about the City of Kelowna and the Kelowna Fire Department.”  He says he looks forward to building on the past successes of the department and addressing challenges the department faces.  “I know there’s issues with service delivery, response times,” Carlisle noted.  Prior to Blanleil leaving his post, he created a strategic plan for the fire department that aims to keep pace with population growth/development and deal with future fire hall locations and service delivery.  The department recently was approved to hire four new firefighters in July and council was told during budget deliberations that bolstering the number of firefighters in the future will be a priority, particularly once a career hall is put in place in Glenmore. Carlisle has more than 36 years of fire service experience, spending the last two and a half years as Vernon’s fire chief.  Before that, he was regional fire chief for the regional municipality of Wood Buffalo, Alta., and deputy chief for the Fort McMurray Fire Department.He also has 24 years of service with the Canadian Forces.