Kalispell’s Incoming Fire Chief is Ready for the ‘Baton Hand-off’
Jay Hagen will step into the role as Kalispell’s new fire department head in May with Chief Dan Pearce's retirement
By Zoë Buhrmaster
For Jay Hagen, Bellevue, Washington’s fire chief over the past seven years, returning to western Montana is, in some sense, a “homecoming.”
Hagen’s public service career began at Missoula’s Fire Department, sleeping at the station and performing side work for the department as a resident firefighter while he worked on his bachelor’s degree in organizational communications from the University of Montana.
“I helped out, I footed ladders, I pulled kinks out of hoses,” Hagen said. “That’s where I really fell in love with emergency services.”
Shortly after he took on a position as a full-time firefighter at the station where he worked for almost three years. While filling in for air ambulance staff at Missoula’s Community Medical Center, Hagen found himself stuck in downtown Seattle for an overnight while the pilot rested. Intrigued with the Puget Sound’s metropolis, Hagen transferred to the Seattle Fire Department where he spent the next 30 years.
In 2018, Hagen became Fire Chief for the Bellevue Fire Department, just across from Seattle on the other side of Lake Washington.
There, Hagen formed a data and systems division within the fire department to prioritize data-informed decisions, established the Bellevue Fire Foundation, oversaw the addition of a new battalion unit, core response unit, and another downtown station.
On May 5, Hagen will take over as Kalispell’s Fire Chief as Chief Dan Pierce retires. Pearce has served in Kalispell for the past three years, playing an instrumental role in helping pass last year’s $4.6 million emergency responder levy.
Pearce also heralded from Washington, where he served as Vancouver’s fire captain before making his own return to the Kalispell Fire Department in 2021, having previously worked for the department in the 1990s.
“It’s an exciting time to be entering this role, carrying on some of the work that Chief Pearce has already started,” Hagen said.
As he accepts the “baton hand-off” from Chief Dan Pearce and the blueprint for expanding the fire department’s workforce and adding another fire station, Hagen said he anticipates using his experience to guide the way.
“I do happen to have the experience of what’s going to be happening here in a way that allows me to see around the corner a little bit,” Hagen said. “I’ve learned some lessons on it, and so I’m just excited to hopefully bring some of this expertise and energy and enthusiasm to what’s going to be happening here.”