Fire District No. 6 Chief Tim Kinder works with Adna Middle School students as they learn how to perform CPR on a young child on Wednesday morning in Adna.
Lewis County Fire District 6 has been operating without a fire chief since then-Chief Tim Kinder submitted his letter of resignation on April 8.
Kinder did so following an extended executive session called by the District 6 Board of Fire Commissioners at a special board meeting that afternoon. According to meeting minutes, an executive session was called to review performance of a public employee. Following 1 hour and 45 minutes of discussion, about an hour of which included Kinder, Commissioner Jim Martin announced Kinder had resigned, according to meeting minutes.
The commission met in executive session for 3 hours, 20 minutes the night of April 1 to review performance of a public employee. Kinder was not part of that executive session, per meeting minutes. Earlier, following a short executive session on March 26, Martin announced a 90-day review of Fire District 6 and its leadership during the public portion of a board meeting.
Kinder did not return a call seeking comment prior to press time. Reached Thursday afternoon, Martin said, “All I can tell you is that he resigned. That’s all that we’re willing to say.”
Fire District 6 posted the open Fire Chief position earlier this week. The job lists an annual salary range of $75,500 to $105,500 and requires a bachelor’s degree in fire, public or business administration. The full listing can be found online at lcfd6.org.
DJ Hammer, information officer for Fire District 6, told The Chronicle on Thursday that part-time assistant chief Patrick Smith has taken on some of Kinder’s responsibilities. Martin has been making administrative decisions with operational issues left to shift leaders.
According to the minutes of an April 17 special meeting of the District 6 board, the commissioners intended to consider three men for the role of interim chief: retired Olympia Fire Chief Larry Dibble; Chuck Duffy, who retired in 2017 after serving seven years as the state fire marshal, and Gary Franz, who previously served as deputy fire chief for Pierce County Fire District 21.
“I know the commissioners have been discussing having someone come in on an interim basis and whether it would be conducive, or if things have been working well as they’re set up now,” Hammer said. “I don’t know if they’ve made a decision, but I know it’s been discussed.”
The potential of having Chehalis Fire Chief Ken Cardinale fill that interim role has been discussed in some fashion by the City of Chehalis and Fire District 6. The two agencies have both operated out of the Fire District 6 station on Jackson Highway since accidental asbestos contamination inside the Chehalis Fire Station last August. That building was deemed uninhabitable earlier this year.
Cardinale was unable to be reached for comment before press time.
“I know that’s a possibility and I think that’s something that would be worked out between the board of commissioners there and (City Manager Jill Anderson), along with (Cardinale),” Dawes said. “If it’s agreeable to all the parties, I would anticipate that being an interim solution … anything that would involve our fire chief would be something that would be an interim position and nothing permanent.”
The next meeting of the District 6 board is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday at 2123 Jackson Hwy in Chehalis.
