POST FALLS — Public safety was literally the talk of the town at the Connect4Lunch event Tuesday afternoon, just hours before the appointment of a new police chief in Post Falls and the passing of the Kootenai County Fire and Rescue two-year levy. 

Post Falls Chamber Board Chair Tavis Throm said residents had a lot to feel proud of when it came to their first responders. 

“Today is in honor all of those who run towards danger when we're running away,” Throm said. 

Mark Brantl began the talk by discussing inheriting the police department and the responsibility the department committed to regarding partnership with the community. 

“As of a year ago, we were really lacking on our patrol side and now I’m happy to report we’re up to 90% on our patrol,” Brantl said. 

Retention of staff, the department invested time and resources, has been the toughest hurdle to overcome, he said. 

“It’s not always about the money, it’s also about the culture and the things we can do to keep them at our department,” Brantl said. 

The level of complexity involved in balancing calm, clear communication with members of the public and staff when everything happens at once is something he admires in the communications team. 

“On our emergency communications side, we’re lacking. We’re at about 60% of staffing and it’s a really hard job,” Brantl said. 

When it comes to public safety and the city's growing size, he noted that measures such as expanding the police department are necessary to keep pace with change.  

“Our city is not getting smaller so our department has to grow with it, so that’s a huge challenge right now,” Brantl said. “Our police department was built in 2003 and it looks great, but it was built for about 100 people.” 

With a growing police department. Resources such as parking spaces have become apparent, and the department secured the lot next to the station to help with vehicle overflow. 

“It’s going to give us plenty of space in the next 20 years,” Brantl said. “All of this is being paid for by impact fees so this isn’t something that is an ask on the taxpayers.”

Next, Fire Chief Pete Holley took to the podium to share the values Kootenai County Fire and Rescue (KCFR) stands for: service first, mentorship and trust. 

With five stations in its coverage area, KCFR serves about 70,000 people in Post Falls, Dalton Gardens and Fernan Village, as well as unincorporated areas in the county. 

Four of the five KCFR stations call Post Falls home. 

A growing concern for KCFR has been politics coming into play in firefighting.  

“I had no idea politics played a role in fire service when I accidentally became chief,” Holley said.  

He quickly found that the changing way the community views its infrastructure has changed the relationship between the community and the fire district that serves it.  

“We’re not here to manage growth. We’re not here to have an opinion about ancillary things about properties,” Holley said. “My job is to make sure when there is a big structure fire, a heart attack or Mrs. Smith on Main Street falls down and needs a hand to get up. That's the job. That’s what we are here to do.”  

Today, KCFR is fielding twice as many calls as it did 10 years ago, with only about 20% more staff. 

Holley called the coverage map “a hodgepodge of a jurisdiction,” noting that the fire district took about 9,500 calls in 2025. 

That works out to about one call every hour every day of the year. 

However, that isn’t how emergency calls play out in real time, Holley stated. 

There could be a rollover crash, a fire alarm check for a business or helping someone survive a cardiac arrest. 

“Those all happen within minutes of each other sometimes and we stand at the ready strategically placed to meet those needs,” Holley said. 

Firefighters or police are the first to arrive on the scene. But KCFR is asking for more community CPR training to ensure everyone can receive help as soon as possible, positively impacting as many medical events as possible. 

"We have to get the community activated undoing hands-only CPR,” Holley said. “We need those chest compressions to happen now to save people’s lives.” 

    Chief Pete Holley of Kootenai County Fire and Rescue speaks at a Connect4Lunch event through the Post Falls Chamber of Commerce.