The search for the next Estes Valley Fire Protection District fire chief officially moved into the public phase on Wednesday evening as residents, firefighters, and board members met three finalists competing to lead the 50-member mountain fire district.
About 30 people attended a community meet-and-greet at Dannels Fire Station, where the finalists introduced themselves, answered questions, and mingled with firefighters and community members during a 90-minute open house.
The event marked the first day of interviews in the district’s search process, which began with 19 applicants. A fourth finalist, Marc Mahoney, former fire chief for the City of Federal Heights, withdrew from consideration, citing family reasons.
The remaining candidates are Peter Bryan, 70, a former fire chief for several California fire departments who currently serves as volunteer coordinator for Black Forest Fire Rescue in Colorado Springs; Jason Clark, 46, special operations division chief for Eagle River Fire Protection District; and Kevin Nunn, 57, fire chief of Utah’s North Tooele Fire District.
The finalists will continue interviews on Thursday, meeting with stakeholder panels representing firefighters, local government officials, and community members. The EVFPD Board of Directors is expected to discuss the search process at its June 22 meeting and make its selection.
The district hired GMP Consultants to conduct the nationwide search.
“We had a lot of really good quality candidates,” consultant Don Lombardi said after the event. “The four that we looked at were clearly above everybody else.”
During public introductions, each of the three finalists highlighted his experience leading volunteer and combination volunteer and career departments while emphasizing the importance of community engagement.
Bryan, who began his fire service career as a volunteer firefighter and currently coordinates volunteers in Black Forest, praised Estes Valley’s long history of volunteer service.
“I think it’s extremely impressive that next year Estes Valley is going to have volunteer firefighters for 120 years,” Bryan said. “I don’t know organizations that can do that.”
Clark, a Colorado native whose father served as a volunteer fire chief, emphasized collaboration with residents and community stakeholders.
“The community are the ones who make up the fire department and make the fire district what it is,” Clark said.
Nunn traced his connection to Estes Park to family vacations as a child and described the opportunity as a full-circle moment in a career that has included both wildland and structural firefighting.
“I’ve always considered this area as a home,” Nunn said.
Lombardi asked each candidate a set of questions focused on communication, emergency preparedness, and evacuation planning, topics that remain highly relevant in a community shaped by the memories of the 2020 East Troublesome Fire, among others.
Asked what residents should understand about evacuation readiness, all three candidates stressed the importance of advance planning and public education.
Nunn pointed to the national Ready, Set, Go! wildfire preparedness program and said communities must receive evacuation information long before smoke appears on the horizon.
Bryan said residents need to understand that evacuation orders are issued only when necessary and that limited routes in and out of the Estes Valley make timely action critical.
Clark encouraged residents to prepare emergency “go bags,” keep medications and important documents accessible and rely on official emergency information sources rather than social media rumors.
In interviews with the Estes Valley Voice, each finalist also addressed another challenge likely to await the district’s next chief: educating voters about a possible sales tax initiative.
The EVFPD is exploring options to become financially independent and is considering whether to ask voters to approve a dedicated sales tax in the November midterm elections. This month, the district conducted a community survey to gauge voter sentiment, and it is currently analyzing its revenue needs and crunching the numbers on a possible local sales tax increase.
In 2024, the Colorado Legislature passed Senate Bill 24-194, authorizing fire protection and ambulance districts to seek voter approval for sales and use taxes. Since the law took effect, at least 13 districts across the state have placed tax measures on local ballots to generate additional revenue for emergency services.
Clark said Eagle River Fire Protection District successfully pursued a .79% sales tax measure after years of discussion with residents.
“The feedback we got from the community was that we’re a resort community as well,” Clark said. “The property owners were paying for the fire department, and all these tourists are using it, so why don’t you make the tourists pay for it as well?”
Nunn said he previously helped lead a successful effort to increase tax revenue for his Utah district and emphasized transparency and direct engagement with residents.
Bryan, who has experience with property tax measures, said public trust depends on clearly explaining both the need and the benefits.
“Failure to communicate that and get that understood is a failure of the fire chief and maybe the whole organization,” Bryan said.
The EVFPD’s next chief will inherit a department that relies heavily on volunteer firefighters while facing growing financial pressures, wildfire concerns, and increasing service demands in a community that welcomes more than four million visitors annually.
The new chief will also walk into a department that has experienced a great deal of leadership turmoil and morale difficulties over the past several years.
In 2023, the EVFPD accepted the resignation of David Wolf as chief amid management differences. Rick Lasky resigned suddenly after three months with the district in 2024. The district then hired Paul Capo in 2024 and after placing him on administrative leave in June 2025, accepted his resignation three months later. In the wake of Capo’s departure, three senior level employees resigned. Warren Jones came on board in October 2025 as the interim fire chief to shepherd the district through the immediate turmoil and to assist in hiring a new chief.
Eleven minutes before 8 p.m., as the meet-and-greet was wrapping up, the discussion about leadership and public service gave way to the realities of the job. Firefighters who had spent the evening evaluating the three finalists and talking with residents dropped everything, suited up, and headed out after a report of a structure fire at a home off Fish Creek Road.
The moment underscored the responsibilities awaiting the person chosen to lead the Estes Valley Fire Protection District.
I wish we could start hiring from within. We have talented and motivated people who live in EP that can be promoted into lead positions. It seems we waste so much money on national searches only to be disappointed when the new hire decided EP wasn’t for them, leaves and leaves Estes Park entities having to payout contracts. Look how well Ruby Bodie (sp?) did with the Estes Schools superintendent position. She was promoted from within. Other superintendents found via expensive searches haven’t worked out so well. Don’t get me wrong, there is room for these consultants, but perhaps we shouldn’t be so quick to spend large sums of money on these searches so quickly and often.