By Hayden Seder
The City of Sun Valley has hired Wood River Fire & Rescue Captain Rich Bauer as its new fire department assistant chief, whose primary role will be to oversee operations of the Ketchum Rural Fire District, a job that previously fell to the Ketchum Fire Department.
Commissioners for Ketchum Rural recently decided to end their contract with the City of Ketchum and have their operations overseen by the Sun Valley Fire Department. Part of the motivation for this move was to have Ketchum Rural’s own fire chief, the position that Bauer will be taking on.
“One of my primary responsibilities is to lead and manage the volunteers that live at the Greenhorn fire station and the Griffin Butte fire station and to take care of the rural water supply in Ketchum Rural,” Bauer said.
Bauer, who started work one week ago, and the Sun Valley Fire Department will take over Ketchum Rural operations starting Oct. 1. Ketchum Rural covers all rural areas of northern Blaine County from East Fork Road north up to Galena Summit.
Bauer’s Career
Bauer brings over 20 years of experience in the area to the job. He started as an on-call member of Wood River Fire & Rescue in 1994 and was hired in 1999. He became a paramedic in 2005 and was promoted to captain in 2007, where he oversaw Wood River Fire & Rescue’s technical rescue or special operations programs like rope rescue, avalanche rescue and swift water rescue. He was also the EMS training officer for Wood River Fire.
“I was super excited for the opportunity when the position came to light and have been really wanting to grow my leadership skills,” Bauer said. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to work with Sun Valley. They have a great leadership team and I’m excited for the unique opportunity to lead the transition of Ketchum Rural into the Sun Valley Fire Department.”
Bauer’s Outlook
Ketchum Rural will not see any break or decline in service during this transitional time, said Baur, who sees the transition as only positive and leading to even better resources for residents.
“If anything, there will be a higher level of service because the rural fire department never had their own fire chief before,” Bauer said. “The level of service is going to be better. It’ll be a good thing for the community and will improve quality of life for all citizens.”
Already members of Ketchum Rural are living at the rural fire stations and are trained on maintaining and using the apparatus. Many are high-skilled EMTs who Bauer anticipates staying at their stations in their current roles. Bauer himself lives out East Fork, only two miles from the Greenhorn fire station, making him an easily available asset to the firefighters there.
“I think it’ll be a seamless transition,” Bauer said.