Dan Mahoney, pictured on Aug. 15., became chief of Lewis County Fire District 5 on Aug. 1.
After over three decades in firefighting, Dan Mahoney has a title he’s never had before: chief.
Mahoney became chief of Lewis County Fire District 5 in Napavine on Aug. 1 after spending his firefighting career — most of which was on a volunteer basis — at numerous departments throughout Thurston County.
“I just look forward to what’s coming up,” said Mahoney, who said with such a short amount of time in the area, he’s learning the ropes and asking a lot of questions. He said one of his short-term goals is to develop a strong working relationship with city officials and the community.
“Communication is my number one thing that I believe in,” he said.
Mahoney, a New York state native, said he came to Washington after a stint in the Navy. He ended up in Whidbey Island and has stayed in the Evergreen State ever since. He met his wife, and they’ve been married for 42 years, and they have three sons — two are career firefighters and one is a Life Flight helicopter pilot.
His interest in firefighting started after one of his sons sustained a serious injury falling out of a tree. They were living in Yelm at the time. Mahoney was “chastened” by a doctor for his lack of emergency medical skills, so he went to the local fire department to learn more about first aid, which prompted his first volunteer firefighting position in 1987.
From there, he went to Rainier, then to DuPont and finally to South Thurston County. He went from being a volunteer firefighter to a having a career position about 10 years ago.
He’s most recently worked as a training officer and fire marshal, and as a manager of Thurston County’s fire academy, which is what put him in contact with District 5’s interim chief Laura Hanson. Hanson would send her firefighters and medics up to Thurston County for training, so Mahoney said he got to know District 5’s people.
More recently, he was contacted by District 5, asking if he would consider tossing his hat in the ring for the recently advertised chief position. Opportunity knocked and Mahoney said he answered.
When asked what it is about firefighting that’s captured his interest, Mahoney said: “Nowhere else can you go into someone’s house in the middle of the night in their worst moment and have them turn around as you’re packing them up and have them hand you the keys and trust you so emphatically,” he said.
That feeling, coupled with the exciting uncertainty of what any day, or really any minute, might bring have kept him in the game, he said.
“We call it ‘the gray area,’ ” Mahoney said. “You never really know what you’re going to be doing the next five minutes.”
The largest difference between Lewis County and Thurston County’s firefighting setup is the size of the county, and how spread out the districts are from one another, he said. That being said, he was still pleased with the turnout from area districts to a recent fire in Winlock and the turnout at a recent chief’s meeting.
So far, Mahoney said he’s enjoying the position, and he’s happy with what he’s found in Napavine. He said he looks forward to further build the department and working collaboratively with his firefighters and other district chiefs.
