AmCan to swear in new assistant fire chief today

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

AmCan to swear in new assistant fire chief today

By DAN JUDGE/Times-Herald staff writer

Article Launched: 10/02/2007 08:31:21 AM PDT

AMERICAN CANYON - The former fire chief of Rio Vista has been named the new second-in-command for the American Canyon Fire Protection District.

Mark Nelson, 45, will be officially sworn in as American Canyon's new assistant chief at today's City Council meeting.

After two years in the more bureaucratically oriented fire chief's position in Rio Vista, Nelson said he was anxious to get back to the hands-on work of daily operations.

"I really missed the operations and training, that's one of the main reasons I came here," Nelson said Monday. "And American Canyon is a very progressive, growing area."

Nelson will take over the spot Fire Chief Glen Weeks held until he recently replaced retiring chief Keith Caldwell.

A 24-year fire service veteran, Nelson has a strong background in hazardous materials emergency response, communications, operations and training.

Nelson is a California State Fire Marshal Chief Officer and HazMat specialist. He also is a California State Training Institute instructor for HazMat first responder operations, incident command and terrorism response.

He has degrees in fire science and organizational communications.

"My commitment is to meet the challenges of this growing community, while preserving the caring atmosphere of a small town," he said.

Nelson and his wife Mary Kay have four children and live in Modesto, but they hope to relocate to the American Canyon or Napa area.

Engineer Vern Simas, who has been with the fire district for over 25 years, also will be promoted to fire captain at today's council meeting.

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Tuesday, October 2, 2007