PORT TOWNSEND — New East Jefferson Fire-Rescue Commissioner Dave Johnson has been sworn into office.
Johnson, who ran unopposed in November, was sworn in Dec. 17, said Bill Beezley, district spokesman.
Johnson, a Port Hadlock resident, replaces outgoing Commissioner Ed Edwards, a former Port Townsend fire chief who was appointed in 2011 to fill the Position 3 seat vacated by Jess Bondurant, who died earlier that year.
Edwards did not seek an elected term in November.
Johnson, a fire management officer with Olympic National Forest from 1984 to 1996, was the first emergency medical technician instructor in Jefferson County, Beezley said.
He began teaching soon after he moved to Port Hadlock in 1984 and volunteered for the Chimacum Fire District.
Johnson now serves as the volunteer Operations Section Chief for the Jefferson County Department of Emergency Management.
He retired from the U.S. Forest Service in 2007 after 39 years of service.
Among his service was working on a wildland engine from 1969 to 1974 in the Snoqualmie National Forest, serving as a helitack manager and assistant fire management officer in the Colville National Forest from 1974 to 1978 and as a fuel management specialist for the Umpqua National Forest from 1978-1984.
There, Johnson became an emergency medical technician and EMT instructor.
He helped start an ambulance service for the Days Creek Tiller areas and taught several EMT classes, Beezley said.
Johnson was a fire and aviation staff officer from 1996 to 2007 in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.
Johnson, who was born in Yakima, attended Yakima Valley College and the University of Washington, graduating with a technical fire management degree.
He and his wife, Peggy, have two children and one grandchild.
The couple attend Port Townsend First Baptist Church and enjoy square dancing. His hobbies include fly fishing, salmon fishing, wood working, and reading.