Familiar face tagged as new fire chief

WASILLA — The Central Mat-Su Fire Department is getting a new chief.

Mat-Su Borough Director of Emergency Services Dennis Brodigan announced Thursday that James Steele has been hired to head the department.

“I’m very excited about it,” Steele said. “I think it will be a great opportunity.”

Steele expects to start work March 31, but he won’t be a new face around the firehouse. He has been with the department since 1987. Before that, he fought fires in North Carolina and was chief of the Wilkesboro Volunteer Fire Department for nearly eight years, he said.

Steele was one of two candidates called for a second round of interviews in 2003, the last time the department hired a chief, Brodigan said. The job at that time went to Jack Krill Jr., son of Jack Krill Sr., a longtime chief of the department.

Krill was fired last March at the end of a four-month saga that unfolded as he protested his removal, the Borough laid bare its list of grievances against him and Krill defended himself.

In the interim and since Krill was initially suspended in November 2006, assistant Chief Michael Keenan has acted as chief of the department. Keenan said Thursday he’ll be happy to hand over the reins and get back to being assistant chief, if he can remember what that is like.

“I’ve got such a good staff and the responders are so great,” Keenan said about being the acting chief. “It’s been a challenge, but it hasn’t caused me any sleepless nights or anything.”

Steele said that, from his vantage, the department fared well under Keenan.

“I think that’s the critical part, that chief Keenan kept on as a cheerleader of ‘focus on what our mission is and focus on the duties that we have and serving the people,’” Steele said.

Steele, whose current rank with the department is deputy chief, actually outranked Keenan on fire scenes before Keenan stepped in as acting chief.

“I’m very happy that he got the job,” Keenan said. “It’ll be an easy transition.”

Steele works as regional manager for the Office of Children’s Services. Based in Wasilla, he oversees 13 field offices from Bethel to Homer to Unalaska to Glennallen, including Mat-Su. That experience, in which he manages a nearly $10 million budget, will help him in running the fire department, where the budget is a major part of the job, Steele said.

Looking forward, he cites two main goals he has for the department. The first is to maintain its current rating with the Insurance Services Organization, which ranks fire departments. He said the ISO might even be able to raise its ranking from a 4 to a 3. Second, and more importantly, Steele said wants to expand the department’s roster of firefighters.