Fire Chief’s from all around Nevada County were present at the Board of Supervisors meeting to honor retiring Nevada County Consolidated Fire Chief Tim Fike. Only one person was missing, and that was the man honored, Chief Fike.

While Chief Fike retired earlier this year from his job at NCCFD, he is still very active as the Deputy Incident Commander of  NorCal Team 2,  one of the incident management teams dealing with major incidents.  This summer he has worked on major incidents including the Lost Fire that burned from Modoc County California into Nevada, the 316-thousand acre Rush Fire near Susanville,  and the Chips Fire in Plumas County which is still actively burning through under control.

The Nevada County Supervisors honored Chief Fike with a proclamation for his years of service in the fire service for the community. US Forest Service Fire Chief Jean Pincha Tulley (pinch-a-tulley) says he many be retiring but he is not completely retired. She says his cooperative effort has stopped so many fires from becoming large.

click to hear Jean Pincha Tulley

The Board of Supervisors was informed that retiring Chief Fike had been called out  to assist a federal fire management team to contain one of the many fires in the western United States.

The proclamation reads as follows:

The Nevada County Board of Supervisors takes great pleasure in recognizing former Nevada County Consolidated Fire District Fire Chief Tim Fike on his retirement.

Recognized by his peers as a brilliant tactical firefighter, Tim began his fire service career as a volunteer firefighter in 1982, and then joined the US Forest Service as a Hot Shot firefighter for the El Dorado National Forest. He served as Chief of the Watt Park Fire Protection District, before it was merged into the Consolidated Fire District in 1998, and was appointed Fire Chief. Since then, Tim saw his staff more than double and successfully maintained an effective, state of the art firefighting organization. He strengthened the Swiftwater Rescue program, which required training for all personnel and acquisition of equipment (primarily through donations and grants) and is now a State-recognized Type III Swiftwater Rescue Team. He obtained grants for nearly $2 million worth of critical life safety items and training facilities. He also obtained a grant for fire prevention and oversaw a successful fuels reduction program for the District, which has benefitted hundreds of acres for improved fire safety. He served on a County-appointed task force to create a Fire Plan for Nevada County, which is now incorporated into the Safety Element of the County General Plan. In addition, Tim was one of five emergency service providers appointed to oversee distribution of Weapons of Mass Destruction grant funds to Nevada County.

Dedicated to community service, Tim helped organize the annual Christmas gift giving with the Domestic Violence Coalition for thousands of dollars in toys and necessities. He has served for years on the Nevada County Fire Safe Council and received their 2012 Volunteer of the Year Award. He also participated in numerous organizations such as the Fire Chiefs Association, Nevada County Fire and Law Council, the Emergency Services Council, State and County Offices of Emergency Services, and represented Northern California volunteer fire departments through the statewide organization FIRESCOPE for several years. Tim has also served on a Federal Incident Management Team responding to large fires throughout the West, Hurricane Katrina, earthquakes & floods.

The Nevada County Board of Supervisors thanks Tim for his many years of service to the citizens of Nevada County, and wishes him well in his future endeavors.