Interim Fire Chief applications flood city hall

One of the first, and most important, steps to forming the recently-approved City of Canyon Lake Fire Department is hiring the Interim Fire Chief. This person will begin the task in early February of creating the fire department and will be eligible for applying for the permanent Fire Chief job when the department is up and running on Jan. 1, 2022.

Thirty eight employment applications for the Interim Fire Chief had been received by the deadline last week. Canyon Lake City Manager Chris Mann said that many of the candidates are incredibly strong.

The 38 applications will be whittled down to the top six candidates and those six will be interviewed. The interviews are tentatively scheduled for the first week in January.

“The plan is to invite the six most-qualified applicants to interview with a panel comprised of city managers and fire/EMS personnel from the region,” Chris said. “We hope to have the Interim Fire Chief on board in early February.”

With the Interim Fire Chief in place in February, he or she will have approximately 11 months to establish the new fire department. The new hire will work under the administrative direction of the city manager and will develop and oversee the startup and operations of the new single-station fire department.

Tasks of the Interim Fire Chief will include establishing fire department policies and procedures, training, EMS implementation and purchasing or leasing of vehicles and equipment among other tasks.

Until the City of Canyon Lake Fire Department is officially on its own, the fire and emergency services will continue to be provided by the Riverside County Fire and Cal Fire, with which the city has a contract.