Fire Chief Eric Lynn volunteer since age 15

ROYAL CITY — Grant County Fire Districts Nos. 10-11 Chief Eric A. Lynn has been on the job just a couple of months, but he’s been involved with fire departments since the age of 15.

Lynn volunteered in 1985 with Klickitat County Fire District No. 1 in Trout Lake. He thought it looked like a lot of fun.

“They put me to work cleaning toilets, the shop and the fire station in general and washing fire trucks,” Lynn said.

Lynn, who was a fan of the television show “Emergency,” went to the station initially after a conversation with his father.

When his father asked Lynn what he wanted to be as an adult, he said firefighter. His father suggested he go to the fire station and talk to the volunteers about firefighting.

Lynn served a five-year stint with the U.S Marines after high school. That took him to Desert Storm, Desert Shield and Operation Restore Hope in Somalia.

“What I liked about it was the teamwork,” Lynn said.

By the time Lynn returned from the Marines, his family had moved to the Olympia area. It became his new home.

Lynn took a job with the Simpson Timber Company in 1994. And he continued to volunteer as a firefighter and emergency medical technician with the Griffin Fire Department. He had signed up in 1987 because he liked the regimentation.

Lynn’s first experience as a fire chief came in 2005 with Thurston County Fire District No. 16 as a volunteer. He stayed there five years, responsible for administration, operations and training.

In 2009, Lynn became the chief of Lewis County Fire District No. 5, his first paid fire chief position. Among the regular duties was the application for and administration of local and federal grants that exceeded $700,000 in funding and equipment.

Then came a whopping change. Somewhat forced to leave, Lynn took a sales position with Sea Western Fire Equipment Sales in northern Idaho, eastern Oregon and eastern Washington.

“Politics,” he said. “Over the five years I was there, the entire board changed, and the job changed. I decided to do something different.”

That something different included four to five nights a week away from home. That was not good for family life, and Lynn soon needed to make another change.

During a sales stop in Royal City, former Fire Chief Brian Evans told Lynn about a captaincy that was opening up. He took that job and the responsibility for all training early this year.

“I came back and realized I missed it,” Lynn said. “My family and I love it over here. “We’d been wanting to move to eastern Washington for many years. We’d been wanting to get out from under the rain.”

In July, Evans announced he was leaving the department at the end of that month. He asked Lynn if he would like to take his place.

Because of the experience at Lewis County, Lynn thought about saying no at first. Then he said yes. The GCFD Nos. 10-11 boards of commissioners approved him without an interview. They knew his history and his work first hand.

One of the items on Lynn’s early agenda is a new fire station. He believes Royal City and the Slope need one. He’d like to see six truck bays, offices, a training room, a maintenance shop and at least six sleeping rooms.

“If we can have six firefighters sleeping here all of the time, we can respond to fires and other emergencies a lot quicker,” he said.

Lynn has 20 firefighters at the Royal fire station. He has 12 at the Royal Camp location. There are also four non-firefighting EMTs.

He and the board are working on design and costs now. A levy passed by the people of the two districts will be needed.