Assistant Chief Named Interim Head of OR's Safety Agency

A longtime fire administrator was tapped Monday to serve as interim director of the Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards and Training.

Les Hallman, an assistant fire chief with Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue, will lead the agency while the search for a permanent director is underway, Gov. Kate Brown’s office announced.

Hallman replaces longtime administrator Eriks Gabliks who is retiring.

The department certifies and licenses police officers, corrections officers, parole and probation officers, regulatory specialists at the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, 911 dispatchers, private security providers and investigators and polygraph examiners in the state. It also certifies and trains firefighters.

In announcing Hallman’s appointment, Brown said the agency will “benefit from his broad experience in public safety, incident management, and leadership at both the local and state level.”

Hallman served for 12 years as a fire chief in South Walton, Florida, before becoming the Florida state fire marshal. Hallman was fire chief in Newberg before moving to Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue.

He’s been a member of the Fire Marshal Incident Management Team program for eight years. He led the team that oversaw firefighting operations last month in the Santiam Canyon.

According to the job posting, the director oversees an agency budget of more than $55 million and works with a board to develop training and certification/licensing standards for more than 41,000 public and private safety professionals. The annual salary range for the director’s job is $146,844 to $176,796, the posting says.

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