Slamon hits the ground running as Carson City fire chief

Hailing from Modesto, Calif., Carson City’s new fire chief is looking to create more leadership, skills training and involvement for the department.

Sean Slamon, a 29-year fire veteran, started with Carson City Fire Department in April after the retirement of previous chief Bob Schreihans.

“I am loving it; it has only been good days,” Slamon said. “I come to work with a smile and go home with a smile. I can’t say enough how excited I am to be here.”

He spent most of his career with Modesto Fire Department, moving up the ranks from firefighter to operator to battalion chief and finally acting as fire chief for two years before coming to Carson.

“It was a change but change is good for me, it is good for people,” Slamon said. “It re-energizes and reinvigorates you.”

He and his wife decided to move because of the location and the organization’s reputation.

“When the offer came about, we talked about it and we were interested so we pursued it,” Slamon said. “The more I learned about the organization and community the more I fell in love with it and it continues to be this way today.

“The community opened up with open arms and we have embraced it as well. We are excited to be a part of it.”

For Slamon, firefighting is in his blood. His father is a retired deputy chief from Fremont Fire Department.

“That was my first interest and once I started to take classes, I had instructors who were passionate and they inspired me to become a firefighter,” Slamon said. “I wanted to do something to help people and make a difference in the community. When we are young, everyone wants to make a difference and I was fortunate to be able to do that.”

With his new position, Slamon wants to make sure the staff has all necessary training and skills to take care of the citizens of Carson City and to provide leadership within.

“Usually fire departments are good at training and preparing for emergencies, but they often lack in developing employees to be leaders, so that is one of my primary areas of focus,” Slamon said. “We are jacks of all trades and there are over 30 trades we need to be experts in from chemists to medicine to construction so we need to make sure our training programs are proper so we can prepare for the multitude of challenges we face daily.”

Slamon wants to try to start with bringing in a consultant to train the captain and officers and then begin trickling down training from there.

“We have outstanding leaders in this organizations — we need to put together a plan to tap the right people to really teach within their expertise of leadership and supervision,” Slamon said.

Slamon also said he would like to start seeing the Fire Department more involved in the community.

“I want to see the department become more involved — it is already quite significantly; but I want more, I want our community to know what a great fire department we have and that we are here to take care and help people better know the services we provide,” Slamon said.