Spokane Fire Chief Brian Schaeffer to be replaced; few details forthcoming

Spokane Fire Chief Brian Schaeffer will be replaced by Mayor Lisa Brown’s administration, according to a Wednesday news release.

The city’s statement made no indication of a timeline for Schaeffer’s replacement, nor how long he will continue as chief. He declined to be interviewed Wednesday afternoon.

Brown’s office did not disclose whether Schaeffer was retiring, resigning or being forced out.

“I am consulting with Fire Department leadership, including Chief Brian Schaeffer, to develop a plan and process for transitioning the role of Fire Chief,” Brown said in the prepared statement. “Discussions are underway and scheduled to continue over the next week.”

Schaeffer was named fire chief in May 2017 by then-Mayor David Condon, after having worked in that role in a temporary capacity for four months following the retirement of Bobby Williams, who was fire chief for 28 years. Schaeffer, who joined the department as assistant chief in 2005, had beaten four other finalists for the top post after a national search and several rounds of panel interviews.

The process for hiring a new fire chief proved controversial.

Before a round of candidate interviews in early 2017, the city’s human resources analyst in charge of the process raised questions of impartiality when she urged top members of the department to attend a community forum “not only to meet the candidates, but to support Chief Schaeffer.”

The Spokane Firefighters Union also had expressed some concerns about the recruitment process, with members of Local 29 stating that they weren’t being sufficiently included in the recruitment and vetting process, although the union congratulated Schaeffer in a Facebook post.

Schaeffer’s tenure has at times continued to draw scrutiny from elected officials and union representatives.

Overtime payments, which had already been criticized, skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic. City leadership, including Schaeffer, primarily blamed staffing shortages. As hiring has rebounded, overtime spending has stabilized.

Local 29 President Randy Marler expected leadership changes were coming, but had not heard about Schaeffer’s status prior to a call from The Spokesman-Review.

“Brian’s been chief for nearly eight years, and while his predecessor was around for a long time, four years is normally the healthy lifespan of a chief,” Marler said. “Were excited about a change in new leadership.”

Marler said that there have been frequent “grievances and unfair labor practices” concerns, which stemmed from department and city leadership, not just Schaeffer.

“But Brian’s the chief, he oversees all of that,” Marler said. “It’s been a struggle the last couple of years. We hope to find somebody who doesn’t find the union to be something required to interact with out of reluctance.”

Marler said several of those grievances were still being reviewed and declined to speak to specifics, but alluded to disputes over current contract negotiations.

He added that the union had hoped Brown would implement a change in leadership and undergo a national search for candidates with the union involved in the hiring and vetting process.

Schaeffer started his career as a first responder in Warrensburg, Missouri, in 1989. In the late ’90s, he was a helicopter flight paramedic in Missouri and Kansas. Before coming to Spokane, he served as deputy chief of the Yakima Fire Department.

When he was appointed to lead the department, he said he was inspired to pursue a career in firefighting after a fire destroyed his family’s mobile home when he was 8 months old.

“Although I was indoctrinated into the fire service at a very young age, this journey took me 28 years,” he told a crowd at a May 2017 ceremony in honor of his appointment in front of Fire Station 1 downtown.