‘It’s time to move on’—Siderits steps down as Jefferson City fire chief

As of Aug. 1—and for the first time in 14 years—Bud Siderits isn’t the chief of the Jefferson City Volunteer Fire Department.

After nearly a decade and a half of work at the helm of the department, fighting wildfires and structure fires alike, volunteering at community events and responding to more than enough incidents on the Boulder Hill, Siderits worked his last day as chief on Saturday, July 31, just one day after his and other departments around the county responded to the start of the Gatlin Gulch fire southwest of Boulder. That fire is now being fought by a U.S. Forest Service team and is holding steady at about 60 acres as of Monday.

He said he decided throughout this spring that his time at the helm of the department was to come to an end.