Fire dept. makes personnel changes

Long-time Sisters firefighter Jeremy Ast has been promoted to Deputy Chief of Administration, and Dave Keller has been hired as a new fire medic as the Sisters Fire Department continues to change with the times.

Ast's duties will include supervising the fire district's emergency medical program and handling the fire prevention duties of a fire marshal, replacing Dave Wheeler, who left the district recently. Fire Chief Tay Robertson, who recently announced his retirement, noted that the district is also in the process of promoting a new fire captain. The testing for the job will wrap up in March.

"What we've done is try to combine jobs to create efficiencies," Robertson said.

The shifts in personnel not only allow the district to keep a tight budgetary belt, they offer rare opportunities in a district where there is little personnel turnover and chances for advancement are few and far between.

"In a fairly static organization, it's created a number of opportunities for people to move and promote," Robertson said.

Ast started as a volunteer in the district in 1995, the year he graduated from Sisters High School. He pursued his emergency medical services degree and was hired as a fire medic in 2000. In November 2004, he was promoted to shift captain.

Ast appreciates the chance to advance in his career in his hometown and is looking forward to his new position.

"I think it is good for the organization," he said. "If you'd asked me two months ago if I'd be where I am, I'd never had thought of it."

It will take some time for Ast to get a full handle on the fire marshal's scope of work. Currently, the state fire marshal's office is providing plan review services, and Ast said he will continue to rely on volunteers such as former chief Don Rowe to deliver the fire prevention message in Sisters schools.

New fire medic Dave Keller was sworn in last month.

The young medic traces his interest in the field back to his college experience at University of California, Santa Barbara.

"When I was in college I worked on an ambulance for a year," he said. "Working with those guys was the draw. That definitely was the start of it all."

He's lived in Redmond since 2004 and started wildland firefighting in 2001.

"I've just always wanted to go on and get my paramedic (certification) and go into the structural side of it," he said.

Keller is very pleased to have landed a spot in Sisters.

"I don't even know what to say," he said. "I'm super-excited. It's a great department."

Roberston told The Nugget that the search for his successor goes on apace. Applications closed on January 31. The fire district board of directors will review the applications and a selection process will be underway by mid-March.

A new fire chief is expected to be on the job in mid-June.

Author Bio

Jim Cornelius, Editor in Chief

Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.

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