Camas-Washougal fire chief resigns unexpectedly

Camas-Washougal’s fire chief, Nick Swinhart, who has lobbied over the past few years for funding to help shore up staffing shortages that have forced many firefighters to work 60 hours a week, resigned unexpectedly this week.

City officials issued a statement on Tuesday, March 8, after Mayor Steve Hogan announced his pick for an interim fire chief during the Camas City Council’s meeting on Monday, March 7.

“Fire Chief Nick Swinhart recently announced his resignation from the Camas-Washougal Fire Department to pursue other opportunities,” the city’s statement noted. “We deeply appreciate the service he has provided the City over his many years with the organization. We wish him well in his future endeavors.”

On Monday, Mayor Hogan named Cliff Free, the CWFD’s division chief of emergency medical services, as the department’s interim fire chief, and said Camas-Washougal Fire Marshal Ron Schumacher will assist Free with his additional responsibilities.

Former Camas Mayor Paul Dennis hired Swinhart in 2011 after an extensive, nationwide recruitment process to replace the city’s former fire chief, Leo Leon. Before coming to Camas, Swinhart served as a firefighter/paramedic for 16 years in Raymond and Aberdeen, Washington, as a fire chief for the Watertown Fire Department in Watertown, South Dakota.

Swinhart helped guide the 10-year merger of the Camas and Washougal fire departments in 2013, and also led the East County Fire & Rescue department from 2016 to early 2019.

Swinhart has advocated for increased firefighter staffing levels over the past several years, and recently told Camas City Council members that staffing issues caused by the high number of workers who are on leave for everything from military reasons to injuries and illnesses are taking a toll on local firefighters.

“The group is at a breaking point,” Swinhart told council members in February. “Working 60 hours a week is not sustainable in the long term.”

The Post-Record had not heard back from the president of the local firefighters’ union, East Clark Professional Fire Fighters, in time for this publication’s print deadline.