INSIDE

Point Roberts division chief selected

For Mike Cadden, firefighting and emergency medicine weren’t jobs, they were passions – things you looked forward to doing later when you went in to the office everyday. For over 30 years, Cadden worked for Montgomery Elevator Company in Yakima but his heart belonged to the fire department in Naches, where he joined as a volunteer in 1975. Now, as the new division chief for the Point Roberts fire department, his heart is really in his job.

“Over the years emergency medicine really became my hobby,” Cadden said. “This is what I love to do.”

The NWFRS western division chief – effectively the new Point Roberts fire chief – was required to have intermediate life support certification or be a paramedic and had to agree to live in Point Roberts. “The total concept was someone whose responsibility was to be in touch with the volunteer core, to be here and work with them.” said NWFRS chief Mike Campbell.

Cadden was the top scorer in a North Whatcom Fire and Rescue Services (NWFRS) assessment of five applicants who met the qualification for the position. He is an EMT and IV technician who has been working for an ambulance company in Yakima since his 1999 retirement. He is also certified as an EMS trainer and state evaluator. Cadden sports an impressive list of search and rescue skills, is certified as a rope-rescue and swift water rescue trainer, and is an instructor for the emergency vehicle accident prevention. He is also certified in hazardous materials management and as a wildland firefighter. “I’ve always had more interest in the medical side but they’re both very important,” he said. “It’s really two different jobs and both of them address very important issues. For the most part, firefighting saves property and EMS saves lives.”

Cadden learned of the Point Roberts position through Campbell, who he worked with on EMS issues when they both lived in Yakima County. “We came here to visit a few times in the last couple of years and really liked the area,” Cadden said, adding that his wife was especially happy to move to the Point. He and his wife have three grown children, two who live in Yakima and one in the Seattle area. Until he comes on in Point Roberts full-time in January, he is splitting his time between Point Roberts and Yakima and hopes to be completely relocated to the Point in the spring.

Campbell said Cadden’s qualification makes him a perfect match for the Point Roberts fire chief position. “He wants to be here, his wife wants to be here, he’s not going to be looking for another job, he just retired from one,” he said.

District five commissioners approved Cadden for the position December 6 and the full NWFRS board made the final appointment at their December 13 meeting. Under the NWFRS staffing plan Cadden and the other division chiefs, Bob Hamstra for the eastern division and Jim Rutherford for the central division, will earn $54,000 per year plus benefits. Campbell, the Point Roberts fire chief before district 5 joined NWFRS, earned $55,000 in that position. .

BACK TO TOP