Fire veteran looks forward to filling chief’s position

Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2001 | 10:57 a.m.

When David Washington joined the Las Vegas Fire Department 27 years ago, there were only 13 other blacks on the force and few, if any, ever thought they'd get an opportunity to become chief.

"I thought the best I would do is make deputy chief, given the level of racism at the time," Washington, 50, said this morning. "Today we have a diverse department with a lot of excellent men and women -- a lot of excellently trained people.

"However, I don't want to be known as the black chief, but rather as the fire chief for all of the Las Vegas community who just happens to be African-American."

On Wednesday City Manager Virginia Valentine will recommend the grandfather of six to the Las Vegas City Council for the top fire post. The nomination comes three months after former Fire Chief Mario Trevino took the lead job in the San Francisco Fire Department.

The Las Vegas Fire Department has 560 employees, including about 60 black firefighters and other personnel.

"I feel excited to be given this opportunity, but I have mixed emotions when people say I will be the first black Las Vegas fire chief," Washington said.

"I'd rather people talk about how I will be going this fall to my 10th Camp Anytown for children sponsored by the National Conference for Community Justice or the many other community service events I have participated in."

Among those events is the old Firefighters vs. Metro Police football games for local charities at the Silver Bowl, now Sam Boyd Stadium.

Having never played football, and at the time weighing just 145 pounds, Washington played safety and participated on the special teams for several "Hose" victories over the "Hogs" in the 1970s and '80s.

Washington joined the department as a firefighter in 1974 and served in public education from 1975 to 1979. He served at the training center for the next six years, rising in rank to training chief, the equivalent of battalion chief.

In the late 1980s Washington worked in support services, purchasing equipment and helping locate sites to build new fire stations throughout the city.

In the 1990s Washington served as a fire marshal before being promoted to deputy chief. He was named interim chief on June 1.

In 1992 he ran for the Clark County Commission and says he was "beaten so bad I gave up on politics."

Washington said he has neither politicked for the top fire job nor has he been contacted by individual City Council members to discuss issues.

"I suspect sometime in the near future I will be called in to discuss with the council members individually what my plans will be for the department," he said. "I feel pretty good about my chances tomorrow."

The council can either approve the city manager's choice or direct staff to reopen the search process.

After Trevino announced he was leaving Las Vegas, the city conducted an internal search for a new chief. Seven candidates applied: Washington, Henry Clinton, Azarang Mirkhah, Jeffrey Morgan, Kenneth Riddle, Lawrence Wickliffe and Richard Garcia.

A two-member panel of out-of-state fire chiefs conducted interviews and chose the department's four deputy chiefs -- Riddle, Garcia, Washington, and Morgan -- as finalists.

Valentine will recommend that Washington's salary not exceed $134,304 -- about a 5 percent increase from his current pay. Trevino's annual salary was $119,000.

Washington, a native of Louisiana, has been a Las Vegas resident for 46 years. He and his wife, Marcia, have been married 29 years and have four grown children.