Assistant chief and two-time cancer survivor appointed Modesto Fire Dept. interim chief
Modesto Fire Department Assistant Chief Kevin Wise has been appointed interim chief in the wake of Chief Alan Ernst’s retirement.
The process to fill the position permanently will begin in the next few months, city spokesman Andrew Gonzales said Wednesday.
In his nearly 18-year career, Wise has served as firefighter, engineer, captain, battalion chief and fire marshal. Raised in Salida, he began his fire career with the Oakdale Fire Department in 2005. Wise most recently served as fire chief of Ceres, which contracts through the Modesto Fire Department for service.
Wise, who’s been a member of the Paradise School District Board of Directors for a decade, also has defeated cancer twice. He has received two bone marrow transplants and is a mentor for the Firefighter Cancer Support Network.
In 2011, Wise was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. In September 2015, he was told he had acute myeloid leukemia. He has undergone several rounds of chemotherapy and is in remission today, he said.
Once the search for a permanent fire chief begins, things can move fairly slowly, Wise said. In the meantime, his plans are centered on the continuity of the department’s operations.
“We need to keep everything moving forward, all our initiatives. We’re a very complex department,” he said Wednesday in an interview by phone. “We provide services outside of the city of Modesto, through what we call regionalization. So, we serve — in some capacity — six of the nine cities in the county.”
The cities and other communities served by the Modesto Fire Department are Modesto, Ceres, Oakdale, Knights Ferry, Valley Home, Riverbank, Empire, Waterford, La Grange and Turlock.
Wise, 51, intends to throw his hat in the ring for the permanent role of fire chief. Continuing Ernst’s regionalization plan and expanding the department’s EMS division are among his aims.
“My goal is to have a paramedic on every fire engine at some point someday. It’s gonna take us a while to get there,” said Wise. “But we’re already moving that way.”
He noted the department also is working with Modesto Junior College to assist with its fire technology program, and he is overseeing the work between the Modesto police and fire departments to build their own dispatch center.
This story was originally published August 16, 2023 at 4:37 PM.
