A New Leader Colleagues Describe Pat Humphries, New Valley Fire Chief, As A Visionary Leader Who Gets Involved And Gets Things Done

Pat Humphries marched through the fire training tower he designed, sliding closed heavy steel vents to prevent birds from getting in.

“I don’t know why I’m worried about it, I’m not going to be here,” joked the man who will become Valley Fire District’s new chief on March 2. But, he added, “that’s just the way I am.”

Humphries, 48, has been deputy executive chief of the Vancouver (Wash.) Fire Department since the city and Clark County Fire District 5 consolidated in April 1994. Before that, he was chief of District 5 for 13 years.

Colleagues, friends and business associates describe Humphries as a visionary leader, one who gets involved in his community, knows how to get bang for his buck and has guided the fire district through growth and change.

“He’s a man who’s always put public safety above his own private interest,” said Vancouver city councilwoman Pat Jollotta.

During his tenure as chief of District 5, Humphries developed an extensive resume of accomplishments.

The training tower includes one of the only practice burn rooms in the country that uses natural gas to simulate ordinary combustibles firefighters would find in a burning building. In the department’s maintenance garage, mechanics repair not only their own fire trucks, but turn a profit by working on other districts’ engines.

Humphries saved the fire district about $300,000 by converting a house into a fire station rather than building from the ground up.

“He took (the district) through major growth. He’s real progressive, real innovative,” said neighboring Chief Steve Wrightson of Clark County Fire District 3.

”(Humphries) is one of those irreplaceable people. He’s going to be such a loss to this county.”

As chief from 1981 to 1994, Humphries saw Clark County 5 through major growth. In 1981, the 40-square-mile district had four stations, 25 firefighters, and a budget of $800,000. By 1994, it had nine stations, 91 firefighters, a $7 million budget and spanned 70 square miles.

Valley Fire District, also experiencing growth, has seven stations with plans for another in Liberty Lake next year. The district has 108 firefighters, a $9 million budget and spans 68 square miles.

”(Valley Fire’s commissioners) saw a lot of similarities to what I’ve done here,” Humphries said.

Humphries approach to creative financing also caught the commissioners’ collective eye.

Of the three men interviewed for the $74,000 per year position, only Humphries proposed finance methods new to the board, said Commissioner Tom Gregory.

“I’m known as a good scrounger,” Humphries said.

A shiny red 1959 ladder truck in the department’s maintenance garage was purchased for $3,500, rebuilt at a cost of $40,000 and placed into operation. New trucks begin at about $300,000.

Southeast of Vancouver’s district headquarters is a station Humphries said the firefighters always fight over - a ranch-style house that was purchased and remodeled.

“The guys love it because it has a real homey feel,” Humphries said.

The property was purchased for $90,000. Remodeling - including the addition of a two-fire engine garage - cost about $250,000. But the total spent still falls far short of the $700,000 to $1.2 million it can take to build a new station.

The department’s training tower, repair garage and hazardous materials team speak to Humphries’s foresight. Years ago, when Vancouver began to grow, Humphries laid the plans that enabled the fire district to deal with the inevitable new demands.

One of the point men in the citycounty fire consolidation discussions, Humphries pushed for the move even when it became apparent he was working himself right out of a job.

City officials planned to conduct a nationwide search for a new chief when the merger was complete, Humphries said.

“It’s ironic,” said Vancouver City Manager John Fischbach, because the merger was Humphries’s greatest accomplishment. “I’m not happy to see him go,” Fischbach said. “The Spokane district is getting a real winner.”

Humphries, whose wife, Rebecca Charlton Humphries is from Spokane, said he has long been interested in moving to the area. The couple has two children - John, 20, and Holly, 18.

Originally from Wenatchee, Humphries joined the Air Force and served as a firefighter on a crash and rescue team in Vietnam, then at Fairchild Air Force Base in the early 1970s. He’s also served at fire districts in Wenatchee and Beaverton, Ore.

He is president of the Washington State Fire Chiefs Association.

When Humphries arrives in Spokane he’ll pull back the reigns and just listen for the first few months, he says.

“I don’t plan to build Vancouver Fire there,” he said. “I think for the first few months, I’m going to ask a lot of questions.”

He does plan to revisit Valley Fire’s 10-year plan, currently in its third year. Ten years is too long, Humphries said. The district shouldn’t plan beyond about five years because things change too quickly, he said.

Some of Vancouver’s successes could work quite well in the Spokane Valley, Humphries said.

The maintenance garage, where mechanics repair the district’s fire trucks and have turned a profit doing work for other districts, might work well in the Spokane Valley, he said.

He also might look into buying a house in the Liberty Lake area and converting it into a station, as he did in Clark County. Valley Fire District plans to build a new station at Liberty Lake next year.

But, Humphries said, he would not make any plans for the lakeside community’s new station without first talking to people who live there.

Reaching out has always been one of Humphries’s strengths, said Thera Bradshaw, director of Clark County’s centralized dispatch center, which serves all police, fire and ambulance services.

When new firefighters started on the job, she said, Humphries would bring them to the dispatch center so they could meet the people behind the radio and “develop personal relationships.”

“I think he’s the person to follow,” Bradshaw said. “I’d hate to call him sweet,” she added and paused. Then she burst into laughter. “But I would.”

“Time out, time out,” Humphries said, walking into the room. Bradshaw related what she had said, and red spread up Humphries’s neck. A wide grin, punctuated with dimples, stretched across his face.

Humphries is noticeably proud of his achievements, but falls just short of bragging.

“He’s completely professional,” said Heidi Scarpelli, a public information officer with the department. “He keeps morale high, makes you feel good about what you do.”

Scarpelli walked through the fire prevention station, explaining that it was the city’s headquarters before the merger.

She paused in front of an open office. Humphries, on hold on the telephone, was reclined behind someone else’s desk with his feet propped up. He half-listened as Scarpelli explained that after the consolidation, the station’s “brass” moved to Clark County 5’s headquarters, a much larger building with expansive offices.

Humphries looked up suddenly. “Did you say brass?” he challenged, a mischievous look in his eyes.

“Yeah,” Scarpelli retorted defiantly as a grin crept across her face.

She touched the shiny badge on her own shirt. “Silver,” she said slowly, as if explaining something to a child. “Brass,” she finished, giggling as she pointed back at Humphries, Valley Fire’s new top dog.