After a two-year gap, the Spokane Valley Fire Department has welcomed a new chaplain to the ranks, the Rev. Aaron McNally. McNally, an experienced chaplain, also has the distinction of being a volunteer firefighter.
McNally replaced Ken McNaughton, who founded the Inland Northwest Fire Chaplains while serving as Spokane Valley Fire’s chaplain before he retired two years ago.
Fire Chief Bryan Collins said the long gap between chaplains was partly because the department took time to analyze the chaplain program based on data McNaughton gathered during his tenure.
“We actually put it through a review process – what worked, what didn’t work,” he said. “Once we got that done, we started looking around.”
The department was looking for someone with specific skills, Collins said, which also slowed the process down.