The Estes Valley Fire Protection District is proud to announce the successful recruitment and arrival of our new Fire Chief Rick Lasky. Please join our hearty welcome of Chief Lasky and his wife Jami who have just moved to Estes Park and he officially started April 1. It is an understatement to say that the firefighting volunteers, staff leadership, and Board of EVFPD selected Chief Lasky from a superb slate of applicants. He is a 40+ year veteran of the fire service, renowned educator, and has overwhelming passion to step into this most critically important role for our EVPFD.
Ryan Bross, Board President of EVFPD said, “I’m so pleased to have Chief Lasky join the District, and hope you’ll help me welcome he and Jami to Estes Park. I’d like to thank the community for their input in the process, our incredible staff for their extra work and effort during the transition, and as always, our dedicated volunteers who sacrifice so much to keep us safe.”
To get full appreciation of his background, please see his website for more details www.chieflasky.com. Here are a few highlights of his background:
Rick followed in his father’s footsteps beginning his career as a firefighter in the suburbs on the southwest side of Chicago and has been a line firefighter, firefighter-paramedic, company grade officer, training officer and command-level officer.
While in Illinois he received the 1996 International Society of Fire Service Instructors “Innovator of the Year” award for his part in developing the “Saving Our Own” program, a program designed to teach firefighters how to save firefighters that have become trapped or lost in a burning building. Rick is a long-standing editorial advisory board member for Fire Engineering Magazine, serves on the Fire Department Instructors Conference (FDIC) International advisory board and has written over 200 technical articles that have been published in national fire-rescue journals.
He is the author of the best-selling books “Pride and Ownership-A Firefighter’s Love of the Job” and “Five Alarm Leadership: From the Firehouse to the Fireground” published by Fire Engineering Books and is the co-host for the podcast “The Command Post” heard on FireEngineering.com as well as the podcast “Old School.”
Chief Lasky has also served as a police officer and was wounded on several occasions, once while defending a victim of family violence and has received numerous fire and police awards and commendations. He is a Lewisville Honorary Police Officer and Honorary Battalion Commander in the 18th Battalion of the FDNY. In 2017, he was the recipient of the Tom Brennan Lifetime Achievement Award.
Rick lectures at the local, state, national and international levels and is a sought-after speaker by both the public and private sectors. He is married to his best friend Jami, and they have two children Rick and Emily.
For sport, he was also honored in 2011 as an inductee into the Chicago Softball Hall of Fame.
When asked why he and Jami decided to move to Estes Park, CO they said “It’s an incredible honor to serve as the next Fire Chief for the Estes Valley Fire Protection District. A fire department filled with those who have a passion to serve and who take tremendous pride in doing so. The Board of Directors, the Staff, and an absolutely incredible group of dedicated volunteer firefighters make for the perfect team. The moment you arrive there’s a sense and a feeling of community and one that places a priority on family. This is where we want to be!”