Outgoing Chief Zanetti told KPCW Emery, his second-in-command, emerged as the “obvious choice,” and the Park City Fire Board Chair Alex Butwinski agreed.
“He’s a product of our mentoring system, and it became obvious after [our search] that he was the right guy,” Butwinski told the Summit County Council April 2.
Zanetti also emphasized the tradition and value of mentorship at Park City Fire. He and Emery have worked together for years.
“When I started in Park City Fire in 2005, I was assigned to Station 35 under then-Captain Bob Zanetti as a firefighter,” Emery told KPCW.
Before that, he spent five years with South Davis Metro Fire Department. At Park City, Emery became an engine driver, captain and battalion chief.
Zanetti said Emery impressed the late Chief Paul Hewitt as the training division’s battalion chief.
“Chief Hewitt came to me and goes, ‘Whoa, I've never seen anything quite like this.’ And I said, ‘Just sit back and let it happen, because he's going to make some changes around here.’ And he was in charge of the training at the time, and he just took off with things that we haven't seen, progression and new ideas,” Zanetti told councilmembers.
After Hewitt passed away in 2021, Emery became Zanetti’s deputy chief. Emery said he is “humbled” to take up the mantle in May and said he’ll uphold Park City Fire’s standards and professionalism.
Zanetti himself started at Park City Fire in 1989. He said it’s been 36 years of fulfilling service.
“It's been an incredible honor to serve as the fire chief for the community,” he said. “It's just been a, really, a dream come true. And I feel it's in great hands moving forward.”
The Summit County Council approved Emery’s appointment April 2, with a starting salary of $208,000. Butwinski said that makes the chief the sixth-highest paid statewide.
“We think it's very competitive. It reflects what we think about him. But it's also not saying, ‘Okay, you deserve to be No. 1,’” he told the council. It's in line with Park City Fire's existing budget too.
Emery hasn’t chosen a new deputy chief. He doesn't expect the choice to be easy and said it will be a competitive process too.
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