ESCONDIDO: New chief, other changes at the Fire Department

By COLLEEN MENSCHING - Staff Writer | Monday, September 22, 2008 4:44 PM PDT ∞

ESCONDIDO ---- If he had joined the family business, Mike Lowry would have been a plumber instead of a firefighter.

"That was a direction that would have been easy to go, but at the same time I knew that's not what I wanted to do," Lowry said last week after it was announced he would become the city's next fire chief. "Once I was 18 or 19 years old, I knew that I wanted to go into the fire service."

On Dec. 1, the 48-year-old Lowry will take the helm of the 101-member Escondido Fire Department, having been appointed last week by City Manager Clay Phillips to replace outgoing Chief Vic Reed.

"We really like to promote from within, especially in the public safety departments," Assistant City Manager Charlie Grimm said Monday. "Mike was identified, actually some time ago, as a likely candidate."

Grimm said Lowry began being mentored by Reed about a year ago and has attended special training sessions as preparation for the day he would take over the top job.

"Mike's an easygoing guy with a pretty low-key personality ---- but obviously a guy that can make a decision," Grimm said.

Lowry joined the department as a firefighter in 1982, serving as a firefighter-paramedic and a captain before being named division chief in 2001.

As division chief, Lowry makes approximately $130,000 per year and oversees operations, training, building and equipment maintenance, and emergency medical services for the department.

His salary as chief has not yet been decided, Grimm said.

His appointment as chief of the department and its budget ---- more than $18 million ---- comes at a time when the city is building three new fire stations, rebuilding a fourth, updating its dispatch system and changing how it staffs emergency medical vehicles.

"We're hoping to get those items completed and then start evaluating where we are in terms of the quality-of-life standards set by the department and by the council," Lowery said.

Lowry called the department's training and customer service top-notch. The department's average response time ---- how long it takes from the time someone calls for help until firefighters arrive ---- is seven minutes, he said.

Among the challenges Lowry will face in his new role as chief: the recent extension of a hiring freeze approved by the City Council in April 2007 to cope with plummeting sales tax revenue.

Even with the hiring freeze and a 2008-2009 budget that is $5 million less than the 2007-08 budget, the city is looking at a deficit greater than $1 million this fiscal year.

Though the Escondido Firefighters Association, which negotiates with city administration of personnel issues, advocated hiring nine firefighters to staff the new stations that will open by the end of 2009, they will be staffed instead by existing employees.

That plan was approved by Reed and the City Council, but derided by the rank and file.

Lowry has promised to add a firefighter as soon as the budget can cover the cost.

The department is also staring down another fire season, the first since 36 homes were destroyed by the Witch Creek and Guejito wildfires that swept through the city in October.

Lowry said that in recent fire seasons, he was responsible for providing information and equipment to firefighters battling blazes.

"As the fire chief, the role is looking at it more globally ---- looking at it with the rest of the county's chiefs, the City Council, the city manager, the county board of supervisors ---- and making sure our fire department has the tools available," he said.

Mike Bertrand, president of the Escondido Firefighters Association, said Lowry will be a good leader at a time when the department is changing.

"He's got a pretty open door policy and he likes to get input from everybody," Bertrand said. "He's thorough and fair in his decision-making."

Contact staff writer Colleen Mensching at (760) 739-6675 or cmensching@nctimes.com.

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