Rick Vogt

Fire Chief
Escondido Fire Department
Chief Vogt has been in the fire service for 37 years and has served as the Fire Chief for the City of Escondido for the past six years. Starting as a volunteer firefighter in Palm Desert in 1986, Chief Vogt’s career includes 15 years with CAL FIRE / Riverside County Fire Department as a seasonal and permanent Firefighter, Engineer and Fire Captain throughout Riverside County. During his time as a Captain / Training Officer, Chief Vogt was the Director of Fire Technology for the Riverside Community College District at the Ben Clark Regional Training Center. Chief Vogt also led the CAL FIRE/Riverside County Fire Department Public Affairs Bureau for several years. Chief Vogt worked for the City of San Marcos Fire Department as an administrative and field Battalion Chief for ten years, three of which included leading a newly formed Escondido/San Marcos joint Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Division. Chief Vogt joined the Escondido Fire Department in 2015 as the Training and EMS Division Chief, promoted to Deputy Chief-Operations a year later, and then was appointed Fire Chief in 2017. Chief Vogt served as the President of the San Diego County Fire Chiefs Association for two years and was a member of the command staff of CAL FIRE Incident Management Team 6 for eleven years. Chief Vogt holds a BA degree from Point Loma Nazarene University and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from CSU San Bernardino. He has been married for 31 years. His wife is a middle school teacher and they have four children.

Sessions by Rick Vogt

01:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Elderberry 

Leadership & Promotional Workshop

Instructors:  Eddie Sell/Jeff Meston/Wayne Fletcher, Ed.D
This 3-hour session is geared toward company officers and aspiring company officers.  Attendees will have interactive discussions with three fire chiefs and an outside professional to discuss topics of leadership and mentorship.  These will include 1) How to build relationships in your role; 2) Expectations from the fire chief; 3) Ability to handle challenging situations with confidence; 4) Making critical decisions under pressure; 5) Being flexible and encouraging innovation and creative thinking; 6) Collaboration with other fire departments; 7) Proper recordkeeping; and 8) Teaching customer service skills, AKA “Taking Care of Mrs. Smith.”  Other discussion elements of leadership will be open discussions with the presenters.

This is a “MUST” session to attend if you are considering moving up in the ranks and learning what it means to be successful in the role.