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Brighton names five finalists for fire chief Two are from Colorado, three from other states BY BELEN WARD BWARD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Candidates for Brighton’s top job in the fire department all agreed that it’s important to have a connection to the community. How they plan to build that connection is where they differed. The five finalists for the fire chief position with the Brighton Fire Rescue District introduced themselves to the community with an Aug. 25 meet and greet at the Brighton Armory. Residents came to meet the finalist and completed a fire chief evaluation form that will be reviewed by the Brighton Fire District board of directors that will make the selection. Board members said they don’t plan on making a decision until mid-September. The city of Brighton is a mixture of the old and the new with a diverse culture. It’s also one of the fastestgrowing cities in the United States. The fire department has served the area since 1888. The district serves a population of more than 55,000 spread out over 150 square miles with five fire stations covering urban and suburban rural areas. Plans to bring to the table Jim Geering recently retired after 35 years as fire chief for the city of Chula Vista, California Fire Department. He started as a firefighter and was promoted to fire chief, a job he held for six years before retirement. “I think there are a couple of things that are facing our department here in Brighton, and growth is one of them. Brighton needs to determine what our response time threshold is, and base our growth on what our response threshold should be. It’s going to determine the timing of our new fire stations and their locations,” said Geering.
The final five for Brighton Fire & Rescue District at the Brighton Armory meet and greet. From left; Jim Geering, Dennis Light, Steve PHOTO BY BELEN WARD Dawald, Brycen Garrison and Holger Durre.
“To my knowledge, it has not been done yet. It’s one of the critical things that we need. We also need to establish funding a funding mechanism for a new fire station. The community is going to have certain demands based on the growth, and our fire department had to be ready to meet those demands.” Dennis Light is the fire chief for the city of Prescott, Arizona, a position he’s held since 2014. From 1997 to 2014, he was with the city of Yuma, Arizona’s fire department serving as battalion chief, then assistant chief for 12 years. In his early career, he was a firefighter and deputy fire chief for the U.S. Air force. “The department is in strong leadership right now with the interim chief, Ryan Roberts. I think what I bring to the table is a wealth of experience that perhaps some of my other colleagues don’t necessarily have coming into an organization from the outside. I think it’s more of a wait-and-see approach. Once I get to know folks and see what the
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community interests are, it is about becoming part of the communitythe fabric of the community,” said Light. Steve Dawald is the deputy fire chief for the Los Alamos County Fire Department in New Mexico. He’s held that position since 2016. In 1998, he started as a firefighter paramedic and advanced to engineer, then captain from 2005 to 2012, then to battalion chief from 2012 to 2016 before he became deputy fire chief. “I want to take some time to learn about the agency first before making any changes. I don’t think it is good business to come in the door to make any changes without learning the organization,” he said. “I know, there are some holes at the top. We’ve got some reasonable retirements and some folks that have left. It’s going to play a big part in the decision process,” said Dawald. “Are there people on the inside interested in promoting to these positions? Or are we going to have to look towards the outside?” I have a lot to learn.
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It’s going take some time in evaluating what’s going on, get feedback and input from people to make decisions before just making change.” Transition Brycen Garrison is the assistant chief for the Thornton Fire Rescue District, a position he’s had since 2018. He started his career in 2001 with the Brighton district as a volunteer. In 2004, he became a career firefighter and was promoted to captain, and also served as the acting battalion chief from 2013 to 2018. “The fire department is in a transition due to a lot of leadership changes and sometimes when that happens, the vision of the organization kind of gets put to the side into survival mode. I would like to reincorporate everybody from the organization into rethinking what the vision of Brighton fire looks like, so we can all work towards one common goal,” said Garrison. SEE FIRE CHIEF, P9
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