Homer will soon have a new face in a familiar place as city officials have hired a new fire chief. Mark Kirko was welcomed as the new chief for the Homer Volunteer Fire Department earlier this week.
Kirko currently serves as Fire Chief/CEO for North Whidbey Fire and Rescue in Oak Harbor, Washington, where his duties on Whidbey Island include supervising six career staff and 76 part time and on-call volunteer firefighters and EMS providers. He brings 34 years of experience in fire service to the position, with 25 of those years in Alaska. Kirko began his fire service working 20 years with the Cordova Volunteer Fire Department. Beginning as a volunteer, he advanced through lieutenant and training officer positions to fire chief. He then served five years as fire chief and emergency management director for the Skagway Fire Department until the need to be near elderly parents took he and his wife to Vermont where he served six years as chief at the Windsor Fire Department.