Centralia has a new fire chief.
Captain Blake Perez is a more than 20-year veteran of the department and was one of three internal candidates for the position.
“We’re a great department, and I’ve always wanted to advance and be the best I could be for the City of Centralia and do the most I can do for the City of Centralia and the fire department, and being fire chief has always been a goal of mine.”
And Perez is looking forward to his new role.
“It is a very exciting time. We are a younger department at the current time. We have a lot of new people, a lot of changes coming. We need to do more training. We have to work on some equipment and apparatus stuff, and just provide the best service that we can provide.”
Perez is hopeful the city will secure a $1 million federal grant to purchase a new fire truck, which would begin its equipment overhaul. He notes there will also be continued emphasis on building inspections, which have increased under a new, updated building code passed by the city last year.
“We are still trying to get enough time and resources to get through the inspection of buildings, and we want to make sure everyone that everybody in Centralia has a safe place to visit, and that employees are safe, and everybody is happy to come to our town and visit our businesses, and have a safe place to work. In that way, hopefully, we can prevent some loss and keep businesses and opportunities here.”
Perez had no interest in the fire service until a friend encouraged him to try volunteering as a firefighter with the Centralia Fire Protection District. Five years later, he had fallen in love with the job and applied for a full-time opening at the Centralia City Fire Department in 2005. Perez is a Centralia native, a graduate of Centralia High School, and later earned an associate’s degree in fire science from John Wood Community College in Quincy. Perez is married and has two children.
Centralia City Manager Galen Mahle said that while the city advertised nationally for the replacement of retiring Chief Jeff Day, they ended up interviewing only the three internal candidates. Mahle says Perez was selected for his experience in developing the city’s new building code and inspection program.
Perez will be sworn in at 3:30 next Wednesday afternoon at Centralia City Hall. He’ll become fire chief on March 30th when Day officially retires.
