Seeley Lake Welcomes Fire Chief Dave Lane

SEELEY LAKE – As soon as Seeley Lake's New Fire Chief Dave Lane arrived in Seeley Lake for his interview last February, he instantly knew he wanted to be here. While his career goal has never been about becoming a fire chief, it has always been about helping others. By serving in the chief's role, he is excited to bring his more than 30 years of experience in emergency services and information resources to Seeley Lake and looks forward to growing the safe, effective service the community requires and expects.

Lane started in Emergency Medical Services (EMS) by chance. While in college, his high school friend Hawley Maclean was an EMT in Reno, Nev. Maclean invited him to go on a ride along.

"I thought it was pretty cool. I asked what I had to do to do this," said Lane. "He told me to just go take an EMT class and go apply."

Lane received his EMT certification in 1983. It wasn't long before being an EMT was not enough.

"I had a lot of good partners and a lot of people I looked up to and they were doing things I wasn't allowed to do. That was frustrating," said Lane.

Lane became an EMT intermediate. When he started working for Mercy Ambulance, he worked out an agreement where they paid for him to attend paramedic school in trade for his service. He was the first one they paid to put through paramedic school. He graduated from Medical Emergency Training Systems Paramedic Program in Lodi, Calif. in 1991.

After talking with his friends and family and with the incentive of the firefighter retirement program, the opportunity to diversify his skills was too much to pass up. Lane entered the fire service in 1995.

He was hired per diem as one of two paramedics by Central Lyon County Fire District in Dayton, Nev. in 1997. They were the only paid employees along with the chief and 180 volunteers, working out of seven stations that covered 680 square miles.

Lane built the EMS and training program while the other paramedic built the fire operations. It was a challenge because there were eight different departments in one county agency.

"This was where I really got involved in management," said Lane. "It really helped me understand how to talk to people and manage people."

With Lane's help, Central Lyon ended up with 40-50 volunteers and 30 paid staff running out of multiple stations. Lane was promoted to Captain in April 2007 and served as acting Battalion Chief during his time. He also spent seven years with the Eastern Great Basin Type I Incident Management Team as the Medical Unit Leader.

"That gave me experience in establishing EMS systems," said Lane.

Lane completed his Associates degree in Fire Science Technology degree in 2011 at Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno. When an old injury came back to haunt him, he left Central Lyon on a medical retirement in January 2014. He worked at Banner Churchill Hospital in Fallon, Nev. as the EMS Director from 2014-2017.

"I've done a lot, I've seen many aspects of the fire service, I've worked in many different positions in the fire service, so I know where a lot of resources can be found," said Lane. "I think that is going to be one of my biggest assets here. In finding resources, it is easy to share it."

Lane started applying for various positions looking for a change. He travelled to all of his interviews to get a feel for the community.

"This is a lifetime decision for me and my wife," said Lane. "People talk about is the chief going to be a fit, well I wanted to know if the community was going to be a fit for me."

Lane said the snow and trees that welcomed him to Seeley Lake when he came up for his interview reminded him of the Lake Tahoe area where he was raised. He liked the small community and how welcoming people were. He was also impressed that there was going to be more than a month of overlap with the current Interim Chief Michael Greer and the incoming chief to make a smoother transition.

"The help that I got here, before even getting a job offer, seeing what goes on in the community and all these different things combined with the pictures of Seeley that I showed my wife, she said let's do it," said Lane.

Lane was selected out of more than 30 candidates. He started April 16 and will overlap with Greer until the first of June.

Lane said he is very straightforward, believes communication is essential to the success of the department and enjoys sharing information with others to help achieve the best end-goal.

"My style is to not necessarily tell people this is the way it is going to be," said Lane. "As much as possible I like to get buy-in and involve as many people as I can so that people are more proud of what they do. I don't care if you are an entry-level firefighter, I'm a fire chief, we are going to do the same stuff together. I'm not going to ask anyone to do anything that I wouldn't do myself."

Lane has started prioritizing equipment upgrades and safety upgrades to the facility. He said there are financial opportunities that are not being utilized. Lane has secured several grants through different agencies and looks forward to helping the department get those.

"I know what the community expects because I'm a member," said Lane. "I know how to get there as a service because I have done it before and I hope to be able to share my information to get buy-in from others to help accomplish those goals."

Lane looks forward to implementing community programs to help the community help themselves. He wants to be more proactive in the schools and start up the cadet program. He wants to improve visibility, provide better communications and build trust in the department. This includes building relationships with other cooperators and agencies and doing more cooperative training.

"I'm in a position where I recognize I can't help everybody but I can help people help others," said Lane. "I don't forget where I came from as a volunteer, and even though I have years and years of experience at a career department, I like to share that information to help people help others."

Lane and his wife Lorraine, self-named "Mrs. Chief," purchased a home in Seeley Lake and look forward to getting involved in the community. When Lane is not working, he enjoys restoring classic muscle cars, traveling to various car shows and exploring the country on their Harley Davidson. Their favorite car show to attend and show their cars is Hot August Nights in Reno.

The community is invited to an Open House June 2 to officially welcome the Lanes to Seeley Lake. The pinning and welcoming ceremony will start at 12 p.m. followed by food and games.