Columbia fire chief finalists planning long-term stay in position
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Community members got their first opportunity to meet with the four finalists for Columbia’s next Fire Chief on Thursday night.
Attendance for the meet-and-greet at Columbia City Hall was light, with the bulk of attendees being government officials or council members. Those who attended were able to walk up to multiple tables and ask finalists questions.
The city is looking to fill its open fire chief position after Chief Clayton Farr Jr. retired on April 1. Michael Arnhart has been serving as the interim chief.
In the past decade, Columbia has already seen four different full-time fire chiefs. When Farr announced his decision to retire, the president of the Columbia Professional Firefighters Union told ABC 17 News that, the constant turnover in leadership has created a “chaotic atmosphere" for firefighters. The final candidates this time around have said they plan on staying in the position for a longer period of time.
The final four candidates are Deputy Fire Chief John Ambra, Assistant Fire Chief Jeffrey Heidenreich, MU Health Care clinical manager Chuck Doss and Spokane, Washington, Assistant Fire Chief Brian Schaeffer.
Ambra has been with the Columbia Fire Department since 2004. He has served as a firefighter, fire engineer, fire lieutenant, fire captain, fire battalion chief, and deputy fire chief. According to the a May 28 press release, he previously worked at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers as a journeyman electrician from 2001-04 and at South Kansas City Electric as an apprentice electrician from 1998-2001.
Ambra told ABC 17 News that he likes the direction the department is headed, but would like to focus on addressing some of the recommendations they received during the accreditation process.
Heidenreich has worked at the Columbia Fire Department since 2008. He has served as a firefighter, engineer, lieutenant, captain, Commission on Fire Accreditation International accreditation manager and assistant fire chief, according to a release from the city in previous reporting. Heidenreich earned a master of business administration from Columbia College. The release says Heidenreich has a bachelor of science degree in business administration from the University of Missouri and he was a graduate of Rock Bridge High School. He told ABC 17 that becoming a fire chief has been a dream of his ever since he was a little kid.
Doss has been a clinical manager of prehospital services at MU Health Care since 2021, according to the release. He has been a member of Missouri Task Force 1 since 2000 and has worked as the Boone County Fire Protection District as a battalion chief and assistant to the fire chief. He has also worked at the Boone Hospital Center as a paramedic, the City of Olathe Fire Department as a firefighter and paramedic, Boone Hospital Center as an EMT, paramedic and transport coordinator, the Boone County Fire Protection District as a firefighter and lieutenant, and the Battlefield Fire Protection District as a volunteer firefighter.
Doss has a master’s degree in organizational leadership from Waldorf University, a bachelor’s degree in fire science - fire administration from Columbia Southern University, an associate degree in fire science from Kansas City Kansas Community College, the release says. He is also a graduate from Kickapoo High School in Springfield.
During his media availability, he said that he doesn't believe there would be much of a learning curve after his three years away from fire service, given his 20-plus years of experience.
Schaeffer has served as the assistant fire chief and fire chief of the Spokane Fire Department since 2005, the release says. He was previously the deputy fire chief at the Yakima Fire Department in Yakima, Washington, and deputy fire chief at Yakima Fire District 12, according to the release.
According to last week's release, Schaeffer has a master of leadership degree from Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and a bachelor of science degree in fire science from Sterling College in Kansas City, Missouri. He is also a graduate of Freeburg High School in Freeburg, Illinois.
Schaeffer said he would like Columbia to be at the forefront of using AI technology to help the department gather data on how to respond to scenes, something that his department used while he was in Spokane.
“One of the things we did in Spokane that I’m really proud of is a collaboration with a company called Dark Horse. Dark Horse is a deployment tool that allows you to take in data from years before,” Schaeffer said. “Kind of like you would with Chat GPT. Instead of webpages or documents, it’s going to response time data, where they came from, how long it took them, where they responded from, where they were in their district, where they were out of their district, how long they were out there and what interventions did they do. All of that information is out there.”
Given the recent turnover in the department, ABC 17 News asked each of the candidates how long they see themselves in the position.
"I’m young and I’ve got a lot of energy,” Ambra said. "I have a lot of ideas and I know that this job takes a while to see some good changes for all the work we put in. I would say I don’t plan on going anywhere else. Columbia it’s home. I’d say five years who knows?
"I’m not going anywhere," Doss said. "I’m not applying for other jobs. I’m not looking to go to another department. This is home for me so this is where I’m going to be until I retire which is a way down the road.
“There’s no end date on my career. It’s open-ended and I certainly want to serve this community as long as I’m doing a great job, “ Heidenreich said.
The lone out-of-state candidate, Schaeffer said that the department has a good history that he wants to be a part of moving forward.
The last time the city hired a fire chief, conducted a nationwide search before hiring Farr, who had been in the department for over 20 years. The city also brought in several out-of-state candidates for their police chief search but opted to promote Jill Schulde, given her long history in the department.
According to previous reporting, the selection process became contentious, with the city firefighters' union complaining about a lack of communication with city leaders during its hiring of Farr.
Schaeffer said he isn’t concerned with the city's track record of promoting internal candidates.
“You have to trust the process. You have to trust that the HR and the leaders in the organization are recruiting and selecting the right people for the organization's needs at the time so it isn’t necessarily about fit it’s about what the person can bring and they know that better than anybody else does,” Schaffer said. “I don’t have any problems if they go with a better-suited candidate.”
