Jake Patterson, who has spent most of his firefighting career in Clallam County, is taking charge of Clallam County Fire District 2 this week following the retirement of Chief Sam Phillips.
“Jake is an extraordinary fire officer and I have the fullest confidence in his ability to take us to new levels in the fire district,” Phillips said on June 30.
“I think he is going to serve the district well and I couldn’t have been happier to have someone working with me as I transition out.”
Patterson, a Sequim resident, has been fighting fires since he started as a volunteer at the Port Angeles Fire Department in 1992. In 1994, the city of Richland hired him as a firefighter/EMT and he returned to Port Angeles as a career firefighter in 2000. In 2008 he was promoted to lieutenant.
Clallam Fire District 2 hired Patterson in 2017 to serve as its deputy chief.
Phillips said Patterson has earned a master’s degree in public administration and is in the final stages of the four-year Executive Fire Officer program at the National Fire Academy.