Fire Captain Brian Ritter Accepts Assistant Chief's position

We are pleased to announce that the Captain Brian Ritter has accepted the position as Assistant Chief with the Ocean Shores Fire Department.

Brian Ritter started his fire service career as a Volunteer in Edmonds Washington in 1999 and then was hired as a part time "Resident Firefighter" with Snohomish County Fire District 7.

After attending Paramedic School, he was hired in 2004 with the Ocean Shores Fire Department as a Firefighter Paramedic.

Brian was promoted to Lieutenant in 2008 and in 2011 was promoted to Captain. Brian has held most positions within the Fire Department including Interim Assistant Fire Chief  in 2017.

In addition, Brian was selected by his peers as Firefighter of the Year in 2011 and 2017.

In the past 5 years Brian has served as the  Departments Fire Training Officer. The Fire Training model that Brian developed with his coworkers was successful in getting our Firefighters certified to a higher level.

This program has had a major influence in lowering the City’s ISO insurance rating.

Brian has taken part in outside charity work for the Ocean Shores Food Bank as the Auctioneer. He was also the MC for our Northwest Regional EMS conference held in Ocean Shores.

Brian was selected as a civilian contractor for a large Federally Funded study with the (DOD) Department of Defense and the University of Minnesota. Brian worked with field surgeons, medical teams, and US Special Forces Instructors as an EMS medical consultant for a 2-year Study on Trauma care on the battlefield.

He has provided advanced  tactical medical training for  the Grays Harbor County SWAT Team and has also worked as Incident Commander  for  the  Great Shake Out  drill with US National Guard Medical Flight Teams. Brian is a small business owner of over 15 years teaching CPR First Aid and Active Shooter training.

Brian is happily married for 20 years to his wife Suzy Ritter and has two daughters Hadley and Madilyn. Brian’s family  has always been dedicated and supportive of Brian's career in the fire service, and they are looking forward to this new chapter of Assistant Fire Chief for the Department he loves.