Two Crescent Fire & Rescue trucks make their way down the 4th of July parade route in this 2019 pic. File photo: Jessica C. Andrews

Crescent City Fire and Rescue will have a new chief at the helm as it continues to realize an ambitious plan to become a hybrid department with a sleeper crew of volunteers overseen by paid captains.

The current fire chief, Bill Gillespie, will retire on June 16, according to Crescent City Manager Eric Wier. Gillespie has worked in fire service for about 35 years, Wier said, serving as fire chief for Crescent City and the Crescent Fire Protection District for four years.

Gillespie took on the job after his predecessor, Steve Wakefield, was forced to retire in 2018 due to a series of strokes. According to Wier, Wakefield, who worked at the fire department “7-days a week, 24-hours a day,” knew that wasn’t a sustainable model and gave his blessing to Gillespie.

“Chief Gillespie had everything Steve Wakefield would have wanted,” Wier told the Wild Rivers Outpost on Wednesday. “He knew Bill previous to this and he thought Bill would be a great person to come in and take the reins.”

Crescent City posted the job listing on Wednesday. Wier announced Gillespie’s at a City Council meeting about two weeks ago.

Though both the city and the Crescent Fire Protection District are “parent agencies” for Crescent City Fire and Rescue, the chief will be a city employee and will have a contract with the district to provide services within its jurisdiction, Wier said.

“That being said, it’s going to be important that both agencies support this position,” he said, adding that the city will be spearheading the recruitment. “Most likely during a second round, the current chief and myself will sit down and look at candidates. The top candidate will be brought back before the Council and (the district’s) Board of Directors and then the Board will recommend an action to the Council.”

The City Council will then approve the employment contract, Wier said.

Gillespie’s retirement comes as both the city and the Crescent Fire Protection District, which share the cost of running the fire department, work on realizing a masterplan created in 2019. This includes implementing a station staffing program that involves creating sleeper volunteer firefighter crews overseen by three paid captains, according to Wier. Those captains would report to the fire chief, he said.

In 2019, PlanWest Partners consultant Colette Metz said implementing the staffing program would cost $662,000 — $307,000 for the city and $335,000 for the Crescent Fire Protection District.

On Wednesday, Wier said the funding mechanism for that plan had been realized through Measure S, the 1 percent sales tax Crescent City voters approved in 2020, and a benefit assessment through the Crescent Fire Protection District.

It took the Fire Protection District two tries to get property owners within its jurisdiction to approve the benefit assessment.

With the funding mechanisms in place, Wier said, Crescent Fire and Rescue is working with Gillespie and with the battalion chiefs and will work with the new chief on getting the staffing program up and running.

“The thought is to bring in the position one at a time rather than have three paid positions all at once,” he said, adding that the battalion chiefs oversee the department when Gillespie is off duty, primarily on weekends. “We would transition over the next year or two.”

According to the city’s job listing, Crescent City Fire & Rescue operates four stations within the area, responding to structure, wildland and vehicle fires, traffic collisions, emergency medical calls and other calls for service. In 2020, the department responded to 2,064 calls for service.

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