Fire Chief Sewell May Get Top Seattle Post

Three years after he took over the Ventura County Fire Department, Chief Richard Sewell may soon be off to Seattle to fill that city’s vacant fire chief position.

Seattle officials on Thursday announced that the 48-year-old Newbury Park resident is among three finalists for the position vacated by Chief Claude Harris in December.

Seattle Mayor Norman Rice will interview the finalists in the next two weeks, and the Seattle City Council probably will confirm the new chief in mid-April.

Sewell, who worked for the San Diego Fire Department for 24 years before coming to Ventura County, said the Seattle position would offer many new challenges.

“I think all of the cutting-edge work in the fire services is going on in the northwestern part of the United States, and the fact it’s a city department attracts me,” Sewell said. “It’s an all-risk department and covers all sorts of incidents and issues. There’s a waterfront, there are high-rise buildings, wildlife interface areas, there are marinas.”

Sewell started his career Jan. 1, 1969, with the Chula Vista Fire Department. “I was a firefighter trying to hang on to the tail board, trying not to fall off,” he said.

He joined the San Diego Fire Department in 1970, where he remained until 1994, rising to the rank of deputy chief.

The Ventura County Fire Department operates 30 fire stations, employs 450 people and has an annual budget of $52 million.

The Seattle Fire Department has 1,100 personnel and 33 stations. Its budget is $78 million this year and will probably be $80 million next year, according to Sewell.