Mesquite's new Fire Chief, Kash Christopher. Photo by Kirk Kern

Mesquite’s new Fire Chief, Kash Christopher. Photo by Kirk Kern

Kash Christopher started his job as Mesquite fire chief about two weeks ago, and so far the job has been as good as he expected it to be.

“We have some really good paramedics,” he said. “I’ve watched them in action a couple of times. They’re very thorough. They get out there and they have everything set. They know exactly how to work and who’s going to do what. That’s a perk.

Right now, Christopher is doing an assessment of the department. Once he completes the assessment, he’ll prioritize the things that need to be addressed.

“As soon as I get through looking at everything and see what we do have and what we don’t have, then we’ll start fixing those areas that need it the most,” he said. “Start working my way down the list.  What we can fix, we’ll fix. And what we can’t … well we’ll still try.”

Christopher brings 28 year of experience to the position, including 22 years in the Air Force. Most recently, he was the fire chief at Bagram Airfield Fire and Emergency Services in Afghanistan, which is the busiest single runway airfield in the world.

He has familiarity with Nevada as his last assignment was at Nellis Air Force base in Las Vegas. While in Afghanistan, his wife and family remained based in Las Vegas.

“We had Skype and it was a 12-hour time difference,” he said.

But it wasn’t an ideal situation, so despite the good pay, Christopher started looking for a new situation.

“I didn’t look for every job possible but this one popped up and it was close to Las Vegas, so despite how good the pay was in Bagram, I thought it would be good a good opportunity.”

Christopher didn’t really have fire protection in mind when he joined the military, but when it was suggested he went along with it.

“I told them to pick a job for me,” he said. “At first I really didn’t know about it, but i found out it was the life for me.”

The job has taken him around the world, including stops in England, South Korea, Curacao, Honduras (where he met his wife) and  Baghdad.

And now Mesquite, where he will make his home.

“This is home for me,” he said. “This where I will eat, sleep. This is where I will vote. Right here in Mesquite.”