Northern Lakes hires EMS chief

Northern Lakes Fire District recently hired Brad Van Ert as the new division chief of emergency medical services.

He replaces Bill Holstein, who earlier resigned.

Van Ert retired last summer after serving 32 years of fire and EMS service with the Downey Fire Department in Downey, Calif. Previous positions held include: firefighter, paramedic, fire captain, shift training officer and coordinator of both EMS and public education.

Van Ert also served as president of the Los Angeles Area Fire Chiefs EMS section.

Van Ert's responsibilities will include being the division head of all EMS operations for Northern Lakes, including co-chairing the district's safety committee and liaison to the Kootenai County Emergency Medical Service system.

He will also oversee all EMS training for the district and respond as duty chief to major incidents, where he will assume incident command when necessary.

Northern Lakes covers Hayden, Rathdrum and Hayden Lake.