Personnel

Fire Chief / District Administrator

Chief Brad White came to Grand County in the summer of 1989 as a seasonal resident and moved to Grand Lake full time in 1997. He began his fire career as a volunteer with Hot Sulphur Springs/Parshall Fire Protection District after moving to Hot Sulphur Springs in 2001. He served four years as the Assistant Chief and seven years as the Fire Chief. He was instrumental in several ballot initiatives, station constructions and a district expansion. Brad is a founding member of the Grand County Training Officers Committee which he continues to chair, has held various positions with the Grand County Fire Chiefs’ Association, and was the Vice Chair of the Colorado State Fire Chiefs’ Volunteer Section. Brad came to Grand Fire in 2014, as the Assistant Chief of Operations/Training, where he has broadened training efforts and opportunities both locally and regionally. Brad holds certifications for IFSAC Firefighter II, Hazmat Ops, Fire Instructor, Fire & Life Safety Educator, Colorado State Proctor, NWCG Strike Team Leader and Type 4 Incident Commander, and is working on his Type 3 Incident Commander. Chief White is also a founding member of the Grand County Wildfire Council and sits on several state and regional committees including the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention & Control Wildland Advisory Committee, Craig Interagency Dispatch Advisory Group, Colorado State Fire Chiefs’ Statewide Mutual Aid Committee, and is on his second term chairing the Colorado State Fire Chiefs’ Wildland Section. Brad and his wife have a son at Middle Park High School, a daughter at East Grand Middle School, and the family continues to work and play in Grand County.

Assistant Chief, Administration / Community Risk Reduction

Schelly Olson has been a full-time employee of the Fire District since 2011. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management from the University of Minnesota. Prior to joining Grand Fire, Schelly was a volunteer firefighter/EMT in Grand Lake and worked at Grand County EMS and Granby Medical Center. She is a NREMT-IV and a CPR and First Aid instructor. She also holds certifications for FFII (structure), FFT2 (wildland), Haz Mat Ops, Fire Instructor I, and Fire & Life Safety Educator I.

Chief Olson is a Command and General Staff member of the Northwest Colorado Type 3 Incident Management Team and a qualified Public Information Officer. She enjoys instructing wildland urban interface/fire adapted communities courses for the National Fire Academy and currently serves as a member of the Mission-Centered Solutions cadre of instructors delivering fire leadership courses across the country.

Schelly founded the Grand County Wildfire Council in 2013, and maintains bewildfireready.org, the website that helps “Grand County residents and visitors live and play more safely with the threat of wildfire.” She is currently the Vice Chair of the Colorado State Fire Chiefs’ Wildland Section and the Treasurer of Fire Adapted Colorado, connecting with others to reduce the impact of wildfire on communities across the state. Chief Olson was recently appointed as Alternate on the NFPA’s Wildland and Rural Fire Protection Committee.

Schelly lives in Grand Lake with her husband and enjoys reading, hiking and boating. Their older daughter lives and works near Boulder while their younger daughter attends business school at Colorado State University in Ft. Collins.

Captain, Wildland Fire Operations / Resident Coordinator

Captain Joe Starika joined Grand Fire as a full time, career firefighter in July of 2019. He is from Castle Rock, Colorado, where he grew up on a small ranch with his dad and sister. Joe moved to Grand County in 1994 and worked as a farrier for 20 years. He began volunteering for Granby Fire in 2001 and found that he really enjoyed the wildland side of fire. Prior to joining Grand Fire, Joe was a firefighter/EMT for Grand Lake Fire and worked at the Granby Sanitation District. He is a NWCG-qualified Engine Boss (ENGB) and has fought wildland fires in throughout the western states since 2011. Joe also holds certifications for NREMT, Firefighter II, Haz Mat Operations, Basic Faller (FAL3) and is an Incident Commander (ICT4) trainee.

Lieutenant, Training Officer

Lieutenant Phil Flegner is a Midwest transplant. Hailing from southeastern Wisconsin he started his career in 2012 working as a volunteer for Lannon Fire Department and later became part time on Menomonee Falls Department. He graduated from Waukesha County Technical College with an associate degree as a Fire Protection Technician. He has received his NREMT, Firefighter II, Fire Inspector 1, HazMat Ops, and numerous FEMA certifications. In the summer of 2016, Phil joined the Grand Fire Resident Program where he expanded his fire expertise and began participating on wildland fire assignments. He is currently working on his NWCG Firefighter Type 1 and Faller certifications.

Since May 2019, Phil has been the Lieutenant Training Officer at Grand Fire. As the training officer, he has been working to bring the systems and knowledge he has from larger departments — serving over 37,000 residents — to Grand Fire and the rapidly growing population of Granby. Having been a resident firefighter, Phil is able to empathize with the challenges faced by new residents and motivate them to grow as people and professionals.

Phil cares deeply about improving support systems to help people in crisis. In 2013, he co-founded ZStrong (similar to Army Strong) to honor a beloved community member and classmate who took his own life. ZStrong served as a foundation to raise money for those affected by suicide and to raise awareness about suicide prevention. Lt. Flegner also worked for Granby Ranch Ski Patrol and has been uniting ski patrol and the local fire departments to broaden the network of emergency response in Grand County.

In his free time, Phil is often spotted sport climbing, hiking or riding on any of Colorado’s twenty-six ski resorts.

Administrative Assistant

Willa was born and raised in Granby where both her father and grandfather were volunteer firefighters for the Granby Fire Department. She is very active in the community, serving on the governing board for Indian Peaks Charter School for over six years. She was a volunteer firefighter for the District for five years before joining the Grand Fire staff in 2013. Willa holds Firefighter II (structure) and Haz Mat Ops certifications, and she is now a Volunteer Lieutenant. She is also the Treasurer of the Granby Volunteer Firefighters 501(c)(3) Board of Directors. She enjoys outdoor activities and spending time with her two boys.