MEET THE TEAM

Meet the team! West Thurston Fire is a combination fire department south of Olympia consisting of 100 career and volunteer staff members. Ranging from Support to Firefighter/EMTs, our diverse staff is ready to respond and serve their community in a variety of ways.

governing board

BOARD OF FIRE COMMISSIONERS - WEST THURSTON

Meets on second Monday of every month @ 5:00PM

Meeting locations will be rotated each month between the Littlerock and Grand Mound Stations. See resolution below for more info.

Click here for upcoming board meeting agenda

Resolution #2022-006 Board Meetings

BEN ELKINS

commissioner

Jeff jernigan

commissioner

John ricks

commissioner

thomas culleton

commissioner

calvin dahl

commissioner

dave pethia

commissioner

governing board

BOARD OF FIRE COMMISSIONERS - WEST THURSTON

Meets on second Monday of every month @ 17:00 hours

MEET THE CHIEFS

Rob has been involved in the Fire Service in Thurston County for almost 20 years. He joined the former Fire District #11 Littlerock Fire Rescue in 2003 as a Volunteer, and in 2008 was hired as a Career Firefighter/EMT with West Thurston RFA. At that same time he assumed duties as the district Wildland Coordinator and Decontamination Unit Coordinator. Five years later in 2013, Rob was promoted to Lieutenant where he was also assigned to the district Safety Officer Position. Rob’s passion for education and training provided continued opportunities for advancement, and in 2016 he was promoted to Fire Training Captain where he assumed training responsibilities for WTRFA career and volunteer staff. Rob also served as Vice Chair of the Thurston County Training Officers for several years and led many county-wide training events during that time. In 2020, Rob was promoted to Assistant Chief of Operations and Training and then elevated to Interim Fire Chief on July 1, 2022. He was appointed as the Fire Chief on February 21, 2023.

Rob holds a Bachelor of Arts from Washington State University as well as several certifications in Fire Sciences. He completed the King County Officer Development Academy in 2016, holds numerous International Fire Service Accreditation Congress certifications, and has completed several National Fire Academy courses. Rob is a certified Blue Card Incident Commander, IFSAC evaluator and served as the Vice President of Southwest FOOLS International for several years. He also recently received his accreditation as a Chief Fire Officer (CFO) becoming one of only 1,764 CFOs worldwide.

Outside of work, Rob volunteers his time to participate as a live Fire Instructor at the Washington State Firefighters Association annual fire school in Wenatchee. He is married to his wife of 25 years and has two teenage boys. In his spare time, Rob enjoys spending time with family in the mountains or at the beach, supporting his favorite football and baseball teams, hiking, golfing, sharing an occasional shark dive experience with his youngest son, and shuttling the boys to baseball tournaments.