Arlington appoints new fire chief Dave Kraski

By Douglas Buell / The Arlington Times

ARLINGTON — For Dave Kraski, the foray into firefighting began with a knock at the door.

The Arlington High School graduate was working for United Parcel Service in the early 1990s, and Fire Station 47 opened near Arlington Airport to serve residents in new neighborhoods nearby, like his own in The Woodlands and Gleneagle.

“There was nobody out there, and the firefighters went door-to-door trying to find people to volunteer at that station,” Kraski recalled. “They knocked on the door at my parent’s house, and I said, ‘Yes, I’ll do it.’”

The city on Monday made Kraski the chief of the Arlington Fire Department, where he’s a 27-year veteran.

“Dave is going to do awesome, ” Mayor Barb Tolbert said. “He has already been doing a phenomenal job.”

Kraski’s two daughters, Jordan, a sophomore at the University of Louisville, and Olivia, a junior at Arlington High School, pinned the chief’s badge on their dad in the City Council chambers. He and his wife Denise have been married for 25 years.

Firefighters, police officers, family and friends attended the ceremony.

City Attorney Steve Peiffle, who performed the oath of office, also swore in Dave’s father, Bob Kraski, when he became Arlington mayor in 1990.

The younger Kraski, 50, will oversee operations of the department and a roughly $5 million budget, supporting three fire stations and 30 full-time employees.

The new chief will earn $152,901 a year to start.