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Fire Chief Painter Retires; Assistant Fire Chief Kadel Serves as Interim Chief
Last Friday, January 26th, the City of Homer bid farewell to long-time Fire Chief Bob Painter. Bob began his career with the Volunteer Fire Department in 1991 as the Assistant Fire Chief. His retirement marks twenty-six years of public service dedicated to the health and wellbeing of Homer area citizens and emergency responders.
Chief Painter and his family are returning to his home state of Oklahoma where he’s accepted a position with Tulsa Community College as the Director of the E.M.S. and Paramedic Training Program. And while he says he will miss Homer, he is looking forward to not being on call in his future endeavors!
The process of selecting Homer’s new Fire Chief could take a few months. Luckily though, HVFD’s leadership transition will go smoothly thanks to having an Assistant Fire Chief in place. Left vacant for years, the position was recently restored with funds from an Assistance to Firefighters grant and filled by Terry Kadel. Terry will serve as Interim Fire Chief until such time as a hiring committee selects a permanent Fire Chief.
Terry came to the department in September of 2017 from the Girdwood Fire Department, where he served as their Deputy Chief since 2001. He began his career in Girdwood twenty years ago as a volunteer, then spent time gaining certifications in emergency medical service and firefighting and working in New Mexico to gain experience before returning to Alaska.
The City of Homer and the State of Alaska Legislature extended their congratulations to Chief Painter with Proclamations at the January 22nd City Council Meeting. City staff and the emergency response community held a more informal celebration of his well-earned retirement at a luncheon at City Hall.
Significant accomplishments during Chief Painter’s tenure include:
his commitment to up-to-date training and fleet management that helped the HVFD quickly and professionally respond to a continuously rising volume of emergency calls;
the establishment of the Skyline Fire Station helped lower initial response time to incidents on the ridge;
no serious firefighter injury or fatality while in the line of duty;
implementation of the highly successful Kids Don’t Float Program , which started in Homer and eventually spread to all of Alaska and to the Lower-48;
developing the City’s All Hazard Mitigation Plan and conducting community emergency drills to prepare Homer for effective response to emergency situations.
Chief Painter leaves Homer with our best wishes for continued success and happiness in the years to come.
