The City of Homer will soon have a new fire chief. The Homer City Council approved the hiring of Daniel Jager as fire chief for the Homer Volunteer Fire Department during their meeting on Monday, Oct. 13.
Councilmember Donna Aderhold said Jager called in from Juneau during the Committee of the Whole meeting earlier that day. Jager has served as fire marshal in Juneau at Capital City Fire & Rescue for over twenty years. CCF&R coordinates approximately 100 volunteer and career members operating out of five stations and serves a population of just over 30,000 over a service area of 3,255 square miles. A tourism-heavy area due to cruise ship traffic, Juneau also experiences a seasonal boom of over 1.5 million tourists annually.
Aderhold said she appreciated the responses that Jager gave surrounding the “importance and value” of volunteers and was also excited by the ideas he had shared about volunteer recruitment.
Jager will replace former Fire Chief Mark Kirko, who retired in July. Kirko was hired at the Homer Volunteer Fire Department in 2019. Earlier this year, former volunteers of HVFD addressed the Homer City Council, alleging Kirko’s leadership had led to abnormally high volunteer turnover. In his defense, Kirko, along with staff at HVFD, Kachemak Emergency Services Area, and Western Emergency Services, cited high turnover rates in volunteer departments as a national trend. Before his retirement, the City was in the process of exploring potential options for conducting a comprehensive operational audit of HVFD in response to the community concerns. After Kirko’s departure, City Manager Melissa Jacobsen withdrew the RFP.
