Helena begins search for new fire chief as Jon Campbell retires

Helena’s next fire chief will inherit more than a changing command structure. The city is searching for a leader who can keep response times sharp, help staff a third fire station, and steady a department facing rising call demand on the north side of town and across the valley.

Chief Jon Campbell plans to retire from the fire service this fall and will stay with the City of Helena through the beginning of July, giving city leaders a short window to choose his successor. Applications are open now, and the city has not set a firm hiring timeline because the process depends on the candidate pool. The new chief will handle leadership, coordination, oversight and administrative support to the city manager, making the appointment central to how Helena manages daily emergency response and long-term public safety planning.

Campbell’s departure closes a chapter that began in 1999, when he entered the Montana fire service as a volunteer with Missoula Rural Fire. He later worked as a paramedic in North Carolina, spent more than 16 years with the Kalispell Fire Department, and rose to assistant fire chief of operations before moving to Helena in October 2020 for the assistant fire chief of training position. He was sworn in as Helena fire chief in December 2021.

The transition comes as the department is already adapting to a larger footprint. Helena voters approved funding for a third fire station after the City of Helena Commission unanimously placed a public-safety mill levy and bond on the June 4, 2024 ballot. The levy was designed to fund nine police positions and 15 firefighters and could generate up to $3,123,358 a year. The bond passed, and the city is building a third fire station near Custer Avenue and Kelleher Drive, near Costco, with a co-located live-fire training facility.

City and fire officials have said about 30 percent of fire calls come from the north side of the railroad tracks, where the new station is intended to improve coverage. Campbell said the current staffing model only supports a two-station system. "To open a third station means we need more full-time employees," Campbell said.

That staffing question remains unresolved. Construction on the station began in January 2026, but voters did not approve the levy intended to fund the 15 firefighters the city says it needs, leaving the new building without the personnel to fully staff it. The city hopes the station can be completed about 18 months after groundbreaking.

Campbell said he has appreciated the city, the community and the department, and pointed to the support for Station 3 as one of the highlights of his tenure. He is leaving fire leadership to attend law school at the University of Montana, a move that keeps him in Helena while shifting him toward a different kind of public service. The next chief will step into a department that already relies on Assistant Chief of Operations Mike Chambers, a Helena native and Capital High School graduate with more than 20 years of firefighting experience, and Assistant Chief of Training Jason Wendzel, both of whom will be part of the continuity Helena needs as it expands.