Cop is new Aspen deputy fire marshal

Brian Nichols moving over to the fire department

Click to Enlarge Browse Aspen Times Photos Aspen police Sgt. Brian Nichols — seen here packing up at the Alpina Haus apartments March 3 following a nine-hour police standoff — has been named the new deputy fire marshal in Aspen. (Paul Conrad/Aspen Times file) Get News Feeds

Charles Agar
The Aspen Times
Aspen, CO Colorado
April 21, 2008

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ASPEN — The Aspen Police Department, already short-staffed, will lose a seven-year veteran sergeant to the Aspen Volunteer Fire Department next week.

Brian Nichols, a volunteer fireman for 10 years, has been on the Aspen police force for seven years, rising to the rank of sergeant.

But Thursday was his last day.

On Monday, April 28, he’ll replace Orrin Moon as the new deputy fire marshal under Aspen Fire Marshal Ed VanWalraven.

“My entire work history dovetails into the fire marshal stuff,” Nichols said. “It all sort of fit together.”

Nichols, who is married and a father of two, came to Aspen from Oklahoma to start a life with his wife Nancy, a native Aspenite, some 13 years ago.

He’s been a city employee ever since, first in the Aspen Parks Department, and later as an officer with the Aspen police department.

Before that, Nichols worked in real estate on the Front Range, he said.

As a volunteer fireman, he always thought he’d like to step in as fire marshal when VanWalraven eventually retired, but assumed then-deputy marshal Moon would take the job.

When Moon recently became the next fire marshal at the Burning Mountain Fire Protection District near Silt, Nichols jumped at the chance to work with VanWalraven.

Nichols is not disgruntled with his job at the Aspen Police Department, and especially enjoyed working with recently sworn-in Aspen Police Chief Richard Pryor, he said.

“It’s probably the only thing that would take me away from the police department,” Nichols said of his new post at the fire department. “It’s just the right thing for me in the long-term.”

Nichols’ move to the fire department gives him a chance to train with VanWalraven and step in line as a likely replacement, Nichols said.

“It’s a good long-term career move,” Nichols said. “This gives me potential growth.”
An added bonus is that his new job will mean regular weekday hours and no more long, night shifts or being “peed on or puked on” in the line of duty, Nichols said.

Fire Chief Daryl Grob manages operations in Aspen, but Nichols will work more closely with VanWalraven on administrative duties, such as building and sprinkler inspections, alarms and permits, and fire safety education.

New regulations mean that new rural properties are required to have sprinkler system storage tanks that are approved by the fire marshal, for example, something that will be part of Nichols’ work, he said.

It’s a job Nichols is suited to, he said.

As a result of his work in the city, Nichols knows the nooks and crannies of a town he called “unique in every way,” he said.

“And I’ve got a really good familiarity with all aspects of city government,” Nichols said. “I know town really well. I know a lot of people and a lot of business owners.”

Training in code enforcement, radio usage and incident management also will make the transition smooth, Nichols said, adding, “It all sort of fits together.”

He begins work Monday, April 28.

cagar@aspentimes.com