Yesterday, a new fire chief for the City of Sparks was sworn in by the Sparks City Council. He's just getting started, which means for the first 90 to 100 days he says he'll being doing a lot of listening and learning.
He says gradually he will be focusing on innovation, infrastructure and inclusion.
Walt White, the new Fire Chief for the City of Sparks Fire Department says, "It was pretty nice that I was able to officially be sworn in and I'm excited to be here."
Chief White says he's not going to make any drastic changes initially until he does an assessment, which will likely include a climate survey to get the perceptions and opinion of the organization to figure out what their goals are.
He tells us he's going for a community driven approach. Chief White explains "They're the ones that are actually delivering the service where the rubber hits the road, so they need to have some direct input in the changes that are made."
As for concerns, Chief white says he's going to assess all possible angles through multiple different lenses, while giving member of the department opportunities to contribute ides to help solve problems.
Chief White also spoke on regionalization between fire and emergency medical services. He tells us he's an advocate for bringing allied organization together that have a common mission and purpose. He says, "We're stronger together, usually it's one team one fight when it comes to providing public safety."
Overall, he says he hopes to live up to the expectations set for him.
