The city of Fairbanks has a new fire chief.
Jim Styers, a battalion chief at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Fire Department, was appointed chief of Fairbanks Fire Department during Monday’s city council meeting. Styers’ first day on the job is Dec. 1. He will earn $106,220 per year, not including benefits.
Styers, 51, replaces Warren Cummings, who is retiring. Cummings started with the fire department in 1972 and has served as its chief since 2000.
Styers holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration in human resources and a master’s in public administration, both from the University of Alaska Southeast.
He is also completing his final year of the Executive Fire Officer Program through the National Fire Academy.
Styer’s first goal as chief is to improve communication, build a management team within the staff and develop a working mission statement.
”I’m gonna be the ‘why’ guy. I want to ask questions. I really need to understand more about the organization, why they do what they do and why they do it this way,” Styers said.
In 1983 Styers began his firefighting career with the North Star Volunteer Fire Department before joining the student firefighting program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, where he received an associates degree in fire science.
He then spent five years as a firefighter in Kansas City before returning to UFD in 1991.