City of Lubbock continues search for new chief of Lubbock Fire Rescue

LUBBOCK, Texas — The City of Lubbock invited the public to a meet and greet reception for the Lubbock Fire Rescue chief finalists at the civic center on Thursday night.

City Manager, Jarrett Atkinson said they began the search two months ago.
The city said in a press release, these finalists were the results of an intensive nationwide search.

Atkinson said they search for leadership and the technical ability to run the department that has grown to 400+ sworn firefighters.

“Lubbock Fire Rescue is in the top two percent of fire departments in the entire country,” Atkinson said. “Just as everything else we do at the city, we can always be better even than that, so we want to have somebody to take us into that future to keep pushing us towards that.”

EverythingLubbock.com spoke with all five candidates on how they plan to grow the city and the department.

Robert Keinast, the current interim fire chief of Lubbock Fire Rescue has been with LFR since 1999. During that time, he has served as Battalion Chief of Communications, Division Chief of Battalion 1, and Deputy Chief of Support Services, among others.

“The fire chief’s job through the budget is to make sure that the needs of the department are given to both City management and city council,” Keinast said. “It’s not definitely not a blank check right, those are the taxpayers who are working hard to pay taxes to provide those things.”

Brent Shanklin is the Assistant Fire Chief for the Arlington Fire Department. During his 28 years there, he has used his expertise in the Fire and Medical Operations divisions, as well as serving as an instructor for the Fire Academy.

Shanklin agreed it’s the fire chief who will work with the city and citizens to figure out what the department needs.

“It obviously will be a collaborative effort; the fire department has to vet their needs through the city and then the citizens have to agree that that’s actually a need,” Shanklin said.

Richard Stewart is currently serving as Assistant Chief of Special Services for the Irving Fire Department. Before this role, he served as Assistant Chief of Operations, Assistant Chief Administration, and Battalion Chief Training/Communications, among others. He has been with IPD since 1994.

“Growth is always challenging whether its capital assets with fire stations or hiring enough people to fill those and train those to fill those fire stations,” Stewart said. “There are challenges with growth, but to me frankly this city and this fire department can handle it just fine.”

Kyle Mills currently serves as Assistant Chief of the Frisco Fire Department. Throughout his 20-year career, he has served several fire departments across the state including Amarillo, Plano, Celina, and Frisco. He was also a Deputy State Coordinator for six years for the Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System (TIFMAS).

Mills said he would also like to plan for growth if selected to find specifics on what the department needs.

“I think it’s going to be getting here and taking all that in and figuring out exactly what’s needed before we move forward again,” Mills said.

Robin Bergerson of the City of Waco Fire Department is currently the Executive Deputy Fire Chief and has held the positions of firefighter, Captain and Deputy Chief of Emergency Operations during his 27 years with the department. Bergerson said growth will be met with supply and support and that will be gauged as they go.

“I think it’s important as fire chief to match the resources to the demand, so as the city grows, naturally we would want to add either equipment or personnel to match the needs and minimize response times,” Bergerson said.

Atkinson said they took feedback at the meet and greet from the public on conversations had with the candidates.

The city will name the recommended finalist as soon as possible.

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