Mike Kirk was named acting chief of Vashon Island Fire & Rescue (VIFR) at last week’s board meeting.

He replaces Keith Yamane, who left the department at the end of November after about a year in the job.

Kirk said that he’s agreed to take on the position for six months.

The board agreed to conduct a national search for a new chief, and board chair Ron Turner said that there was no way of knowing exactly how long the search would take.

Kirk was assistant chief for operations before being chosen for the chief’s role, and he will, according to Turner, return to his old post once the new chief is hired.

Turner said moving Kirk temporarily made sense. The VIFR veteran is well-qualified for the temporary assignment, he said, and the move will save the department the time and cost of a search for an interim.

Kirk said on Friday that he was interim chief after Chief Randy Coggan left the department in 2001, and he has also been the training and safety officer.

Taking Kirk’s place as assistant chief will be Bret Kranjcevich, who has been the department head mechanic.

Kranjcevich will get the same salary Kirk was getting, and Kirk will get the same salary Yamane was getting, according to Turner.

Turner added that the board’s current projection is that the search could take up to six months, and that the board is going to hire a head hunter agency to conduct the initial search.

The board will conduct the actual hiring process, which is outlined in a current standard operating guideline.

Turner said that the board did not yet know the cost of hiring the head-hunter, and that using such a service, said Turner, “is the cleanest, most expedient way to do it. There is no perfect process, but we want to cast a wider net.” The search, he added, “will be a national search, not a neighborhood search.”

Looking to the future, Kirk said that he’d taken the assistant chief’s job for a couple of years beginning last February. He said, “It’s possible I won’t return to assistant chief. I would still be a volunteer. I enjoy the work. There will always be something. I did substitute teaching when I retired as principal at McMurray (Middle School).”