City confirms fire chief no longer employed
After more than two weeks of inquiries by the Boulder City Review, late Tuesday afternoon the city confirmed that Boulder City Fire Chief Will Gray is no longer employed.
In a brief statement to the Review, the city wrote, “Will Gray is no longer with the Boulder City Fire Department, effective Thursday, April 4.”
It went on to state, “Hired just weeks after the pandemic started, Chief Gray helped Boulder City residents with COVID testing and vaccination clinics,” said Taylour Tedder, city manager. “I wish him well in his next endeavors.”
Deputy Chief Greg Chesser, who has been with Boulder City since 2020, will serve as acting fire chief.
No additional information was provided by the city as to why Gray is no longer employed. The Review anticipates having a follow-up article in the April 18 edition.
Gray started with BCFD in January 2020. In his 25 years in fire service prior to Boulder City, Gray worked in a variety of roles.
Most recently, he was the assistant fire chief for the Pueblo Fire Department in Colorado. He has also worked as a firefighter, a fire medic, an emergency medical officer, a training officer and an operations captain.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in fire administration from Columbia Southern University based in Orange Beach, Ala.
“Boulder City Fire Department offers a great environment to train the next generations of medics and firefighters and to begin developing the future fire service leaders for the city,” he told the Review shortly after being hired.
As assistant fire chief for Pueblo Fire Department, Gray led and managed 10 fire stations, served as incident commander and special operations chief and was a member of the department’s command staff as well as serving as the dispatch liaison with the Pueblo Police Department Communications Center and leading the diverse recruitment team.
Gray filled the position that was vacated when former chief Kevin Nicholson resigned suddenly in September of that year.
Gray was chosen for the position after a nationwide search for a replacement.
