Grand Fire Protection District and Grand Lake Fire Protection District are excited to announce two new recent additions to our fire families. Grand Fire has hired Michael Scott as the new Assistant Chief of Operations and Training. Current Assistant Chief Ron Thurston will be retiring after more than forty years of fire service in Grand County. Grand Lake Fire Protection District and Grand Fire are co-funding a new joint position, an Assistant Chief of Special Operations. David Wolf was chosen for the new role, which will support collaborative projects including wildland fire, water rescue, hazmat, and unmanned aviation and technology integration. Asst. Chief Wolf will split his time between the two agencies and will further develop established programs, create new programs, command special operations teams, and integrate skills and technology back into general operations as appropriate.

Asst. Chief Scott has been in the Fire and EMS community for more than 25 years. He began his career at an early age as a Junior Emergency Service Explorer and has worked his way up the ranks from Firefighter/EMT to Chief Officer. Raised in Oklahoma, he became a Firefighter/Paramedic Supervisor for a rural county service for several years and worked as the leader for youth programs throughout the state. After moving to Colorado, he began working for the city and county of Denver as a Paramedic Field Training Officer. He went on to become an EMS/Fire educator at Red Rocks Community College, as well as a Chief Officer for several Fire Protection Districts. As a public speaker and educator, Mike has obtained many certifications and has trained at the Local, State and Federal levels. He has been the Colorado State Fire Training Director, a board member of the Colorado Fire Training Officer’s Association, Colorado EMS Chief’s Association, International Association of EMS Chiefs, International Association of Fire Chiefs, and several EMS and Fire advisory councils. He graduated from Purdue University with a bachelor’s degree in Fire Science and a master’s degree in Emergency Management.

“I am excited about the opportunity to lead a team of highly performing individuals that have passion for serving others. I truly look forward to serving the people of the Grand Fire Protection District” says Scott.  When Mike isn’t training or contributing to his lifelong study of leadership, he loves spending time with his wife and family (preferably outdoors!) fishing and enjoying the many forms of water recreation available in our great state.

Asst. Chief Wolf’s career has spanned more than two decades, starting as a volunteer firefighter in Pennsylvania while at Allegheny College. He then earned his master’s degree at Washington State University and Ph.D. at Cornell University, both in geology. While in New York David served the Cayuga Heights Fire Department as an Assistant Chief and contributed as a County Fire Instructor for Tompkins County. He then moved to Texas where he served the 600 member Cy-Fair Fire Department as a station officer, board member, and ultimately managed the department’s fire training program for 350 volunteers. In 2016 he moved to Colorado to serve as the Fire Chief for the Estes Valley Fire Protection District, advancing training programs and agency capabilities. He has earned designations from the Center for Public Safety Excellence as a Chief Fire Officer, Chief Training Officer, and Fire Marshal, and is currently working on qualifications to be a Certified Emergency Manager.

“I’m excited to step into this new role and build on the existing collaborations and joint work. My family has enjoyed living in the mountains of Colorado and look forward to making Grand County our home” stated Asst. Chief Wolf. He spends his free time in the mountains hiking, skiing, and fishing with his wife and two sons.

“We are incredibly fortunate to attract such established talent, both with volunteer fire and rural mountain community backgrounds” says Grand Fire Chief Brad White, “The addition of Chiefs Wolf and Scott will go a long way to prepare our agencies for the incredible growth and change our communities are seeing now and in the future.”

Chief St. Germain of Grand Lake Fire said “For the last three years, the two agencies have worked hard to open up opportunities to work together collaboratively and improve how we provide service to our community. The addition of these two professionals is very exciting. Their contributions will not only strengthen independent needs of each agency, but of our joint operations.”