Chief Wells resigns from Fire Dept.

“It’s a big step and a little scary,” he said. “My wife, Tia, and I have spent lot of time thinking and talking about it.”

“I’ve reluctantly accepted the resignation of Chief Wells,” said City Manager Steve Wheeler. “He has been an excellent chief and had a very successful career in Hood River. The city wishes him the very best in all of his forthcoming endeavors, and I’m sure we will consult with him in the future on fire and life safety issues.”

No decision on filling this vacancy has been made, according to Wheeler. Wells said he will remain available to help administer the department on a contractual basis during the transition.

Wells, 42, received his agriculture degree from Oregon State University, but he left one passion, agriculture, for another passion, fire service, and now looks ahead to returning to agriculture, on the Wells and Sons family farm. Wells, his wife and their children live in the Odell area. He will continue to be involved in emergency services as a firefighter and instructor, serve as a Hood River volunteer, and plans to ease into volunteering with the Wy’east Fire District as well as spending more time orcharding.

“I have some things in the pipeline for contracts in emergency services and technology but nothing solidified,” he said. “It’s a big step for us, one of those things where I felt like I have some different focus areas in fire and emergency services in general and wanted to take the opportunity to pursue those and move onto the next step.

“I love to teach and put on drills and talking fire protection. It’s a big passion of mine. I can do some of it as a fire chief, but it’s hard with all the other administrative responsibilities.” What he has experienced is “a separation of my passions from the job description.”

Wells said that he will also focus on formative plans to regionalize the county’s fire and emergency services agency, a complex process that he said the leaders of the other county fire agencies generally support.

“Operationally, we very much work together, it’s very solid, we back each other up on incidents on a regular basis,” Wells said. The next step would be a regionalized, or consolidated, administrative system.

Wells recently signed a contract with National Fire Sprinkler Association, working with Fire Team USA, a coalition of fire organizations that deal with community risk reduction and safety.

“We go around country talking to departments and outfitters about the importance of sprinklers in homes,” Wells said. “I am a big believer in the importance of sprinklers in the home. It’s an important thing for people to understand.”

Wells is vice president of International Fire Service Instructors, an international group of fire service instructors all over the world, and in 2018 will become the organization’s president.

“It’s a very fast-moving group, working for grants on curriculum, research on fire safety and dynamics,” he said.

This summer he will head to Philadelphia for a meeting with UL, the safety science company, on fire safety and how to apply it to fire protection and local areas.

“I’ll bring a lot of that information back. The great thing is these organizations pay me, and I come back and bring what I have learned back to the country,” Wells said.

“It’s a big thing, and it takes a long time,” he said. “I am looking forward to still working on that, but with five separate taxing districts, there are many things to consider. It would be a big feat.”