_{Thumbnail photo: Bill Gillespie (fourth from left) will lead Crescent City Fire and Rescue as its interim fire chief until the city and the Crescent Fire Protection District can find a permanent chief. | Photo courtesy of the City of Crescent City}

Bill Gillespie will return to Crescent City as its interim fire chief, leading a department that has grown into a hybrid agency relying on volunteers and career firefighters to keep the community safe.

Gillespie had led Crescent City Fire and Rescue for about four years after Steve Wakefield retired in 2018. He was chief when voters approved the Measure S tax measure and benefit assessment for the fire district that led to the hiring of three paid fire captains. Under his successor’s leadership the department achieved a Class 2 ISO rating.

“The department, it’s a combination department — volunteer and career — but above all it’s a professional department that serves this community very well,” Gillespie said Monday. “It will be neat coming back, too, with some of the things that came out of Measure S and came out of the fire district assessment to be able to step in now three-and-a-half years later and see where some of this progress has happened.”