“I have been a member of the Washington Fire Service since 1989. Today, I serve in the capacity as a volunteer firefighter and am an elected Fire Commissioner with Grant County Fire District #13, located in central Washington state. I am a third-generation firefighter with a large family history in volunteer and career firefighting. After retiring as Volunteer Fire Chief from my local district in 2015, I continued to serve and promote the fire service in Washington.
One of the obvious shortfalls we have in Washington is the disparaging difference between career firefighters and volunteer firefighters. As a former Fire Chief, I often felt a tremendous pressure and responsibility to the families of the volunteers to ensure that their household income would not be jeopardized due to their volunteering and responding within our fire district. Several cases occurred during my tenure as Fire Chief that had the potential to create a financial hardship for our responders. When I became an independent insurance agent in 2014, I quickly realized that there was a solution, and that solution was Provident insurance.
Today, I have made my specialty at Trask Insurance to help and assist fire departments and fire districts throughout Washington. I feel that it is my way to give back, and continue to be a responder, by educating volunteer fire departments on the shortfalls of income and wage loss, accident and illness benefits, and line of duty deaths.
I’ve also spent a considerable amount of time working with the state associations (Washington Fire Chiefs, Washington Volunteer Firefighters’ Association, and Washington Fire Commissioners Association) in educating their membership by promoting health, safety, and wellness among departments. I am an outspoken supporter of our state legislators, trying to get laws enacted to provide benefits and incentives promoting more volunteer firefighters in Washington. I have a simple service motto about self-compelled agency core values – trust, loyalty, and respect.”