After less than four months on the job, Estes Valley Fire Protection District Chief Rick Lasky stepped down last week. He handed his resignation letter to two members of the fire district board last Wednesday afternoon and the public announcement was made in a press release at 2:25 p.m. Thursday. The resignation was effective Friday at 5 p.m.
Lasky was hired earlier this year and was sworn in on April 2 along with Mike Lewelling, who was appointed to fill a vacancy on the elected fire district board.
The fire district board accepted the resignation of its former chief, David Wolf, a year ago on Saturday, April 29, just three days before the town was set to elect new members to the board and to vote on an increase in the mil levy for the fire district.
The measure, which would have increased the mil levy from 2.9 to 4.9, failed by 82 votes. Wolf and the EVPFD entered into a severance agreement which paid Wolf $84,645.79 plus six months of benefits worth $27,545.40.
Assistant Chief of Operations and Training, Paul Capo, served as the interim chief from June 2023 until Lasky took the reigns of the department this year.
There were three outside candidates who were selected by Prothman, a national recruiting firm headquartered in Issaquah, WA at a cost of $27,304.94. In addition, the EVFPD also incurred $3,459.47 in costs to bring the three candidates to Estes Park for a January 23 meet and greet with the board and community.
Board president Ryan Bross said there wasn’t much to add beyond what was in the press release. “It just wasn’t the fit he was hoping it would be.”
According to the press release “Chief Lasky and his wife, Jami, have made the decision to return to Texas to be with their family. This transition marks the conclusion of his tenure, during which Chief Lasky has made significant contributions to both the District and the community.”
Lasky sat down with the Estes Valley Voice for a four-hour interview after leaving his position and stressed that family considerations played a significant role in his decision. He had hoped that this would be his “forever” job. “I love what I do. I love the fire service more than life itself, but my family comes first.”
The Laskys have a daughter and grandchild in Texas. They plan to return there where he will continue to work in public speaking and consulting roles with fire districts, businesses, and organizations.
Early life and career
Born in Chicago, Lasky has had a 45-year career in the fire service during which time he has held positions as chief of the Lewisville, TX fire department for 12 years, fire chief in Coeur d’Alene, ID, and interim fire chief for the Trophy Club, TX.
He began his career as a firefighter on the south side of Chicago and has worked as both a career and volunteer firefighter in urban and wildland settings. He has also taught fire safety, firefighting skills, and led management training at workshops, conferences, and department in-service programs.
As a teen he participated in a police and firefighter explorer program. He went to Lyons Township High School in the suburb of LaGrange and with a bit of a twinkle in his eye, he name drops fellow high school alums David Hasselhoff and Jeff Hornacek who played basketball for the Iowa State Cyclones, the Phoenix Suns, the Philadelphia 76ers, and the Utah Jazz and has coached several pro teams.
After high school he went to two spring trainings with the Chicago White Sox and roomed with left hitter and designated hitter Ron Kittle who played with the White Sox, New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians, and Baltimore Orioles. He remains close with “Kitty” and the two text often.
Instead of pursuing a professional baseball career, he became a firefighter like his dad, a paramedic, and a Chicago metro police officer. After being shot and stabbed during his first year on the job as a cop— “they were shooting at the uniform,” he insists—Lasky decided to make a career switch and stick with firefighting. And while he did not play in the majors, he played a lot of softball and was inducted in 2011 into the Chicago Softball Hall of Fame.
Lasky first came to Estes Park in February 2023 to teach a program, Pride and Ownership: A Firefigher’s Love of the Job which is based on his book by the same title. He fell in love with the area, which reminded him of where he had lived in Idaho, and when the chief’s job opened up a few months later, he applied. “This was the first job I have applied for,” said Lasky who has always been recruited for his previous jobs and has never had to apply for a position.
Passion for the fire service and volunteer firefighters
Lasky has an impressive background as a fire safety instructor, author, and motivational speaker. He is an editorial advisory board member for a trade publication, Fire Engineering Magazine, and author of two books, and the co-host for a radio show, Command Post, heard on Fire Engineering Talk Radio. His writing and speaking career also led him into some media consulting work.
Lasky is a storyteller. His voice echoes with what linguists call the Inland North accent, a distinct regional dialect that includes a unique vowel shift called the “short-a rising.” You hear the accent in the voices of the actor Dennis Franz and some of the characters on the TV shows Chicago PD and Chicago Fire.
When he talks, he exudes enthusiasm for his work. As a manager, he has a passion for the fire service and for mentoring younger people to enter the profession and to reach their potential.
As a fire chief, he believes in promoting the fire department and its members to the public. He wanted to increase the EVFPD’s social media presence to engage and inform the community. He praises the members of the EVFPD and says their response times are something the community should be proud of.
Acknowledging the tensions between those who believe a fire department needs to be composed of career firefighters versus those who believe in the capability and professionalism of volunteers, Lasky said he has never seen more dedicated or professional volunteers than the EVFPD members.
Lasky is concerned about a discrepancy between the department’s actual response times and the response times reported in the department’s strategic plan which he says are not accurate.
“I don’t deal with theories and your hurt feelings. I deal with facts. The fact of the matter is the response times here are incredible. These volunteer firefighters are incredible. Men and women, 30% are females, and they rock,” Lasky said. “We’re 54 strong. So, like any family, they have food fights. Not everybody’s perfect, but oh my goodness, they are absolutely incredible,” said Lasky.
Lasky was concerned about the impression left by some blog reporting and social media posts that a fire started by a lightning strike a week ago in the Little Valley neighborhood was not swiftly, adequately, or appropriately responded to.
“I was pretty upset when I read on another media site that the community had to band together to fight that fire. Half that story is not true. I was there. Here’s what happened,” said Lasky, who then explained that that Captain Justin Kearney, “who is just awesome,” was in the battalion car en route on Highway 7. Lasky was in his vehicle right behind Kearney. When both Kearney and Lasky saw fire, the call was elevated to the second alarm level. “You would not believe the amount of equipment that brings with it,” said Lasky.
The fire was a 20 by 20-foot grass fire caused by a lightening strike. Lasky said Kearney asked the homeowners to stand back to allow the firefighters to do their job. “Within minutes I had 14 firefighters there,” Lasky said. Several vehicles responded including water and brush trucks, in addition to assistance from the Larimer County Sherriff and an Estes Park Police Department captain.
“I had Larimer County’s wildlands people coming, three pieces of equipment from Allenspark, and three pieces from Pinewood Springs, two from Big Elk Meadow, and one coming up from Loveland and one from Lyons, and one from Glen Haven,” said Lasky.
“It was a rapid response,” said Lasky who said the social media report quoted someone who said firefighters were on the scene but there were no fire trucks.
Lasky was upset by the false narrative that the EVFD was not up to the job. He said that the support of the community is always needed in reporting a fire, but when firefighters ask citizens to step back and let the trained members of the fire department do their job, they should cooperate and not interfere.
He also said the grass fire in Little Valley in no way makes the argument that the community should segue from the combined volunteer and professional fire department to an all paid, fire department, something the community could not afford.
The EVFPD is staffed by 54 members, six of whom are paid, full-time firefighters (a chief, two assistant chiefs, one captain and two lieutenants), in addition to two paid administrative positions, a chief of staff and an administrative assistant.
The 2023 unaudited budget of the fire department was $2,251,545 million in revenues with $2,156,153 of expenses, of which $1,028.405 million was for overhead and administration. The 2024 projected budget anticipates $2,904,937 in revenues and $2,574,417 in expenses, of which $1,064,777 is for overhead and administration.
According to Lasky the amount of revenue needed to run a career department would be staggering.
Immediate resignation
“For the record, I’ve done nothing wrong. I tried to team build. I tried to build morale. I tried to serve as the ultimate ambassador for that fire department. I did. My job is to do whatever I can to paint that fire department in a positive light.” Lasky said.
“When I got here, the board told me. ‘Chief we want you to run the fire department. You run it, you tell us what you need,’” said Lasky.
Lasky is proud of several accomplishments during his brief tenure.
He says he prefers to empower the staff to take ownership of their jobs rather than to be micromanaged. He leaves a department he believes is prepared to continue in that vein.
He had data moved from the EVFPD website that painted an inaccurate picture that the majority of fires in the Estes Valley are caused by short-term rentals.
He got a $21,000 drone donated to allow firefighters to fly above terrain to locate a fire or to aid in a search and rescue operation.
He got an SUV donated that will be used by the wildland educator.
He also wrote two grants for the purchase of new helmets and firefighter gear—called structural firefighting personal protective equipment—to both replace old gear and to unify the members of the department to improve morale so the volunteers did not feel like second class citizens. He expects the grants, one for more than $7,000 and one for more than $48,000, to be awarded soon.
Before taking the job, Lasky had been offered a commissioner position in Michigan and he was being recruited by a community in the south. Additionally, he was traveling nationally to teach and consult. But, after living in Coeur d’Alene, Lasky was excited about living in the mountains again.
However, after a little more than three months on the job, Lasky has given up a role he says he thought would be a dream job.
In coming to the EVFPD, Lasky was aware of the disruption this past year in the Estes Park Police Department with the resignation of the former police chief, David Hayes, and the $117,000 golden parachute Hayes exited with after just a year on the job.
Lasky did not want a contract with the EVFPD, and he did not want any promises of grand severance payments. He wanted to be an employee who worked at the pleasure of the board. “You want transparency. You hired a new fire chief. The very first thing I said was I don’t want a golden parachute. I don’t do that,” said Lasky.
The EVFPD’s press release stated Lasky was resigning his position due to his family obligations and priorities at home. The press release, which quoted from Lasky resignation letter, also praised the members of the volunteer fire department.
When asked about Lasky’s sudden resignation, Bross said, “I can appreciate the fact that people are watching, and I appreciate the fact that people are engaged. I can’t speak to why somebody decides to resign other than what they tell me and what was in the press release.”
The Estes Valley Voice reached out to several members of the fire district for comments but people either said they would only talk on background or that they did not want to comment for fear of backlash from within the department if they went on the record.
Lasky and his wife will be moving to Texas and plan to live next door to their daughter and his wife will provide childcare for their 4-year-old granddaughter.
Estes Valley Fire Protection
The EVFP district began as the Estes Park Volunteer Fire Department in 1907. The department was originally known as the Estes Park Area Volunteer Fire Department. The name was officially changed in 2010 to the Estes Valley Fire Protection District.
The fire station is named after Bernie Dannels, who served with the Estes Park Volunteer Fire Department from 1960 to 1981, the Estes Park Board of Trustees from 1972 to 1984, and Mayor of Estes Park from 1984 to 1996.
There are five members of the fire district board. All five board positions will be up for reelection in the spring of 2025 because two board members resigned this year and community members were appointed to fill the open seats until the 2025 election.
The members of the fire district board are Ryan Bross, president (elected 2022); Brian Tseng, vice president (elected 2022); David Hamrick, secretary (appointed to fill a vacant seat 2020, elected 2022), Mike Lewelling (appointed to fill a vacant seat 2024) and Christopher Buser (appointed to fill a vacant seat 2024).
A member-only meeting was held at the firehouse Tuesday night which was not open to the media. The meeting was attended by volunteers, staff and one board member, Chris Buser, who was appointed in June. According to sources who would only speak on background, the volunteer members are seeking clarity and they want answers about what has happened.
The regularly scheduled July 24 board meeting, which is open to the public, has been postponed to next Wednesday, July 31 at 4:30 p.m.
Obviously, Lasky’s hire was a misstep from both sides. Sometimes the grass isn’t always greener on the other side of the fence. That’s ok. We all make decisions we regret and hopefully can easily repair.
My biggest concern about your story was the attempt to discredit the factual fire department response time data and the fact that the majority of structure fires were in short-term rentals.
I was on the board of the fire district and participated with the strategic planning process. I completely understand that this data may not be supportive of your view of our local short-term rental business and our fire department. The facts speak for themselves.
Don’t get me wrong, our fire volunteers are doing an amazing and heroic job protecting our community but the facts are the facts, and we cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that we have a response time situation that needs to be addressed.
Hopefully the fire board will help address these issues.
The Estes Valley Voice will print a correction if our reporting is in error. If there is data that counters the information provided to the EVV we will review that and print a correction. The information in this article about the response times of the members of the fire department was provided by the Fire Chief Lasky the day following his resignation from the EVFPD. It is the data he collected and compared to information contained in the strategic plan.
Thank you for this article. I think many of us needed to know this information. Especially since the new chief was here for such a short time. I appreciate the information