Polson Rural Fire Department selects new chief

A new fire chief has been named for the Polson Rural Fire District following a regular monthly meeting July 12.

Gordon Geiser, 61 of Superior, was chosen last week after district officials met with candidates and made their decision in executive session.

In September, Geiser will succeed Paul Laisy, 75, who has been chief for two years.

“Gordon will be a real asset” to the fire department, Laisy said, recalling that the two worked together at the Missoula Rural Fire District in the past.

“He has a lot of good things to bring” to the department, he added.

Two people applied for the position, Fred Nelson, chair of the fire district, confirmed.

Rural Fire District Captain Doug Hoel was the other applicant, who Nelson said after a few more years’ experience will make a stronger candidate for chief.

“He has great talent,” Nelson said.

“(Hoel) told the board they made the right choice (choosing Geiser),” which Nelson said impressed board members.

There were multiple factors in the board’s decision to name Geiser to the position, including supervising experience, 20 years of volunteer fire fighting and 25 years as a professional firefighter. He is retiring from Missoula after a 30-year career with the department.

Geiser is also a certified instructor and a certified mechanic, which Nelson said will help keep taxpayers’ dollars down.

“When you bring (a mechanic) in from out of the area… That gets very, very expensive,” Nelson said.

Overall, Nelson said that Geiser’s qualifications were “outstanding.”

Nelson said that during Laisy’s time with Rural Fire, he has exceeded expectations in helping to get the department to where it is today, and the new hire will keep the momentum going.

Geiser said that he plans on performing a six-month evaluation, as promised to the fire board, to see which areas need improvement or are working fine.

“I’m not one of those guys to move things around immediately,” he said. “Organizations evolve with time.”

Geiser also said that while working with Laisy during the transition, Laisy is in charge.

For the future, Nelson is confident that Geiser will be able to pick up where Laisy will leave off and “keep us going in the right direction.”

Geiser said Friday that one of the reasons he applied for the chief position was because his daughter in Columbia Falls is expecting a child, and has foster children. He and his wife, Kelly, are looking forward to being closer to their expanding family.

Laisy’s history

Upon a 12-year retirement from the Missoula Rural Fire District, Laisy was approached to help with the Polson Rural Fire District about two years ago. Laisy’s tenure was originally intended to last for six months as an interim chief, he recalled Thursday afternoon with a laugh.

Laisy was with the Missoula District for 30 years prior.

During his time with the Polson District, Laisy said his biggest achievement has been getting Insurance Services Office ratings’ lowered for residents.

ISO, he said, rates fire departments on a scale of 1 to 10, 1 as the best and 10 as the worst. The ratings determined by ISO affect homeowners’ insurance.

“Anybody who lives within five road miles of our stations” will now get a rating of 6, as opposed to a previous rating of 9, which means annual savings for residents.

“I’m happy about that,” Laisy said.

The new ratings will go into effect Sept. 1. More information will be released to the public in the coming weeks, he added.

Going forward into retirement, Laisy said he is looking forward to “turning the wheels” for his Honda Goldwing motorcycle, which he hasn’t used in the last two years. He’ll start with some short trips around the lake, he said.

Laisy said he and his wife, Shirley, are excited to visit their four children sprinkled throughout the Western United States, including Columbia Falls, California, Arizona and Utah.

“I’m looking forward to... being able to visit family,” he said.

People have asked Laisy if he’d be interested in running for the fire district’s board when positions open, and it is something he said he would consider.

In the meantime, he said he is looking forward to taking his pager off the nightstand.

“My wife will appreciate that, too,” he said, laughing.

Life as a fire fighter is a choice of dedication and balance, Laisy said, taking a moment to reflect.

“I think, for me, it’s quite easy because it’s my wife and I,” he started.

For young families, more planning into each day goes into the job. “Say you’re going to go out for a drink and have dinner. You need to decide, ‘Okay. That is what I’m going to do,’” he said, adding that firefighters separate home life from the career by adding the effort to see family and loved ones.

Constant communication is key as well, he said, and if one firefighter leaves town for a few hours, the rest of the team is alerted.

“You’re always tied to that string in just about everything you do.”

Currently, the Polson Rural Fire District has 36 firefighters, Laisy said, that cover more than 200 square miles.

Dedication by the firefighters, who are much like a family, makes the team a strong unit ready to serve their community, Laisy said.

On the Fourth of July, for example, there were about 20 firefighters at the main station on Regatta Road, waiting in the event of fireworks setting off a fire.

“We call it a team,” he said, but added it is really more along the lines of a family.