The Board of Supervisors has appointed Deputy Fire Chief Nick Dunn as Kern County Fire Chief, the Board of Supervisors announced today. Dunn, who assumes his new duties immediately, will replace interim Fire Chief Mike Cody, who was temporarily appointed to head the Fire Department in February when former Chief Dennis Thompson retired.

Dunn began service with the Fire Department as a firefighter in 1981 and was appointed Deputy Fire Chief in 2002. As Senior Deputy Chief, Dunn supervised the Fire Department’s Metropolitan Bakersfield Division, the Training Division, and Department Logistics. Dunn’s experience includes petrochemical fire prevention, hazardous materials response, development of the Pine Mountain Club firefighter paramedic program, and acquisition of federal surplus equipment.

Dunn has served as incident commander and logistics chief for U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and California Department of Forestry fire management teams for several wildfires in the western United States. As a national team member, Dunn responded to the terrorist attack on the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, and to Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Dunn earned both a Fire Science Certificate and an A.S. degree in Nursing at Bakersfield College, and he has completed extensive training in federal emergency incident management at the National Advanced Resources Training Center. Dunn and his family reside in Bakersfield.

This is part of the May 08, 2009 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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