The city of Yakima has been without a fire chief for almost three months now, but the city is working quickly to fill the position and narrowed it down to four finalists.
Yakima City Manager Cliff Moore announced the four finalists for Yakima Fire Chief last week.
The position has been vacant ever since former Chief Bob Stewart retired in February of this year. Tuesday afternoon the community got the chance to meet the four finalists.
Two of the candidates, Patrick Reid and Aaron Markham are current deputy fire chiefs with the Yakima Fire Department (YFD).
Markham served as a firefighter in Sunnyside since 1991, until he joined the YFD in March of this year. He said he was not expecting to advance so quickly but because the opportunity was there so he said he had to take it.
Reid began firefighting in 1990 in Virginia and went to Utah, California and then Yakima in 2017. He said he is looking forward to the opportunity to mentor future leaders in our community.