West Benton Fire chief retiring after 24 years

After 24 years of leading Prosser’s fire department, Doug Merritt is retiring from his position as chief.

The West Benton Fire and Rescue chief leaves his spot Wednesday He joined the department in 1993, after coming from Selah.

“The governance board thanks Chief Merritt for his dedication to the department through the years and wishes him well on his retirement,” said David Moon, the West Benton Regional Fire Authority board chairman. “Chief Merritt is looking forward to spending time with his family.”

Merritt, who led both the Prosser and Benton County Fire District 3 departments, oversaw the merging of the agencies into a single regional fire authority.

His achievements included subscribing to the regional 911 dispatch center, the Southeast Communications Center, eliminating the delay of transferring the call from the former dispatch center.

He helped implement a seasonal employee program, which added volunteers during the wildland fire season.

“This program has allowed (West Benton Fire and Rescue) to keep up to date on projects and improvements throughout the summer months, as well as increased the daily workforce to respond to incidents more effectively,” Moon said.

Under his leadership, the department strengthened its training standards by adding more training hours, better hands-on scenarios and using live fire situations through the Benton County Recruit Academy.

The chief went through a difficult management period in 2006 when a deputy fire chief as disciplined and left, resulting in problems with his volunteer staff. Many of them resigned.

The agency now has 26 volunteers and two paid employees.

Capt. Seth Johnson is serving as the interim fire chief while the board decides how to replace Merritt.

“My plan is to continue preparations for the upcoming fire season,” Johnson said. “We’re trying to plan the best we can. There are no big operational changes.”

Moon said the board is meeting soon to discuss how to conduct the search for Merritt’s replacement. A timeline will be set once that decision is made.

This story was originally published May 30, 2017 at 7:47 PM with the headline "West Benton Fire chief retiring after 24 years."