Meet our Chief

Meet Our Fire Chief - Dave LaFave

Fire Chief Dave LaFave began his fire service career with Cowlitz 2 Fire & Rescue as a volunteer in March 1983. He was hired full time as a firefighter in March 1986 and served in operations for most of his career. In November 2000, Dave LaFave was promoted to Fire Chief. His educational background includes an Associates Degree of Applied Science in Fire Protection from Portland Community College, a graduate of the National Fire Academy Executive Fire Officer Program, and he currently is working towards his Bachelors Degree in Public Administration.

In addition to his structural firefighting responsibilities, he has been involved in wildland firefighting for over 20 years, including slash burning and escaped fire suppression. He has qualified and performed on numerous conflagration fires at all NWCG operational line levels up to and including Incident Commander Type 2. He is assigned to the Washington State Incident Management Team #3.

Chief LaFave has been involved in the management of various types’ of emergencies including floods, landslides, major haz-mat events and wildfires as far away as California and Virginia. He also responded for relief missions to Hurricane Katrina as the IC for WA-IIMT #3.

He is involved on many boards and committees including the Board for the Washington State Association of Fire Chiefs, PNWCG Training Working Team, Cowlitz County Guidance Association Board of Directors and Washington State Fire Defense Committee.

He is involved in local civic organizations including Kelso Rotary.

Chief LaFave is married to Amy and has three children, Lacey, Jake and Ryan. He enjoys hunting, military history and farming as well as working with heavy equipment and logging.

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Meet Our Fire Chief - Dave LaFave

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