Candidates for fire commissioner in West Plains district vary in fire experience

Two candidates will be listed on ballots for Position 1 in Fire District 10, spanning north from Fairchild Air Force Base to just after Coulee Creek and from North Wood Road to the Spokane River. Only one, however, is really vying for the spot.

Gordon Hester is the incumbent commissioner for the district, running for his first re-election. The president of regional real estate company Kiemle Hagood by trade, Hester volunteered as a firefighter in District 10 from 2010 to 2020 and served as captain of station 10-3 for the latter five of those. During his volunteer time, Hester also served the district as an emergency medical technician.

“I served as a volunteer fireman in the district for 10 years and it really – when you get to go out on the calls, the medical calls and the fire calls, you really get to meet the people in the district. It’s just an incredibly gratifying job,” Hester said. “As I got older, it made it a lot less easy to go out and work as an actual firefighter. So I was able to run for the fire commissioner and still serve the fire department.”

It was a brushfire between Hester’s and his neighbor’s property that piqued his interest in volunteering 15 years ago, as he and his neighbor went out, armed with garden hoses, to help the firefighters stop the spread. The pair didn’t know you could volunteer with the department until a volunteer at the scene tipped them off, and they joined the force the following summer. His neighbor, Rob Sayers, later went full time and now serves as the district’s daytime captain.

Kristi Ross is Hester’s challenger in the Nov. 4 election, and describes herself as a “quiet type of person.” She applied to run for the position after receiving a call from a local Democratic group about an opening in the district.

With no political experience, Ross calls herself a “lady-next-door kind of candidate.” After 10 years in the Air Force and 11 with the National Guard, she became a stay-at-home mom and hobby gardener.

Ross said that if elected she would be an advocate for firefighters in the community and cleaning up dry brush along the sides of the roads that could be a fire hazard.

No one filed for the office during the candidate filing week in May. Hester and Ross filed to run in August when a second filing period opened for offices that had no candidates.

She was unaware an incumbent was in the race and later called to see if she could drop out, though the deadline had already passed.

“I shouldn’t say this, but it wouldn’t bother me if he won. I’m almost rootin’ for him,” she said, adding that if she were elected for the position she would “do the best I can.”

Hester said that his experience with the fire district “probably makes me a significantly better candidate” than Ross.

During his last five years as district commissioner, Hester said his two main goals were to increase permanent firefighting staff numbers and stabilize the budget.

Since Hester took office in 2020, the district has hired on 10 new firefighters, three deputy chiefs and a mechanic. In terms of stabilizing the budget, Hester has worked on renewing an emergency medical services levy and implementing a fire levy lid lift, along with contracting with the Kalispell Tribe to provide service to the casino area.

“I think it has been helping our district be more successful and a lot safer for our taxpayers,” he said.

While the district is financially in good shape right now, Hester said that looking into how the department will manage a need for expensive equipment like firetrucks will be important going forward.

The general election is Nov. 4.