Fire chief has a passion to serve

MAT-SU -- One year after stepping in as interim Emergency Services Director, Jack Krill has agreed to take the position permanently. Borough Manager John Duffy said it was an easy decision.

"He has a proven track record with Central Wasilla-Lakes [fire department]," Duffy said. "He's done a tremendous job in building that department."

Duffy also cited Krill's 19 years of hands-on response and supervisory experience, and complemented the job he has done in the past year as the interim director of Department of Emergency Services -- now called Public Safety.

"When I talked to some of the ambulance chiefs and fire chiefs, they all commented on his willingness to set down some standards to challenge people and move forward with the effort that we put forward," Duffy said. He referred to last year's reorganization of the Public Safety department that has placed more decision-making authority in the hands of individual fire service chiefs.

Krill said he accepted the offer of taking the position permanently after extensive discussions with borough administration. He said he's been impressed with the change that went on in the department in the past 10 to 11 months, and with the support the department has had from borough administration and the borough assembly.

"I look at it as a challenge that we could really take this thing to new heights," Krill said.

Taking the position means a new fire chief must be found for the Central Mat-Su station, a position Krill has held for 19 years, most of his career. Krill said he, like many, wound up in Alaska somewhat by accident, but it's been a move he has been proud of.

"We've built quite a department in the 19 years I've been here," Krill said, adding that success was largely based on the commitment of the many fire and emergency service responders, borough staff and assembly members he's dealt with over the years.

Krill joined the borough from Chester County, Penn., where he served as Deputy Fire Marshal and as a state fire investigator. The department he served in, Krill said, was 3,000 to 4,000 members strong, but it was significantly different than fire departments in Alaska. The department he served, like many in the area, was started as a fraternal club. The members-only bars brought in funds to help the department purchase equipment and pay active members, Krill said, and although the club's membership was thousands strong, only about 100 were active firemen.

Although serving on the force was a family tradition -- his grandfather helped to start the club and his father had served before him -- Krill said an economic downturn brought pressure that nearly crushed the community and made it difficult to make a living there. A steel town and home of the Valley Forge Military Hospital, the town was struck a double blow when, in two years' time, both the hospital and the steel mill closed down, evaporating 15,000 jobs. Other businesses relied, both directly and indirectly, on filling the needs of those two industries, and they, too, were forced to close when those jobs folded.

"It was very hard to make a living back there," Krill said. "By 1982, 1983, we had no industry left in the town whatsoever, and it became a bedroom community with very high taxes."

Krill said he went back to school to sharpen his business skills and, for an assignment, was instructed to send out five r/sum/s, applying for different job postings. Picking up Fire Service magazine, he said, he saw a posting for a job in Alaska and applied. Four months later, the class was over and the applications were nearly forgotten when he got a call from someone at the Mat-Su Borough, asking if he was still interested in the position. He was, and he was flown up to go through the interview process. Three days after returning, Krill said he was called and asked if he wanted the job. The rest, he said, is history. And although he said the new job may mean a little less tee time on the green, Krill said he's up for the challenge.

"It's time that we bring in the next generation, bring in new ideas and progress," Krill said.

For the past year, Krill has been wearing two hats. While acting as interim director, he retained his former position as Central Mat-Su Fire Chief. With his acceptance of the director position, the borough will be looking to fill the chief position. That search will coincide with other public safety department postings that have come about as a result of the ongoing reorganization.

Chief positions are being advertised in four emergency service districts -- areas that make up existing fire service areas. Applicants must be from the fire service areas that make up the district, and Krill said they provide management oversight of the district. Chief positions are being advertised for in the Big Lake/Meadow Lakes district, the Willow and Houston district, the Talkeetna, Sunshine and Trapper Creek district and in the Central Mat-Su district.

"Once we get these chiefs on board, it'll give us an overall management staff," Krill said. "[It's] one of the things, I felt, was very important -- each community they serve is different. It's really critical, in order for us to provide services in their area, to identify what their critical needs are -- not that we aren't meeting those needs now, but there are always ways to improve."