St. Paul’s mayor announced Friday he’ll reappoint Fire Chief Butch Inks to a second, six-year term.

Inks was first hired by the city in 1985 through a youth employment program and later joined the St. Paul Fire Department in 1994. He rose through the department’s ranks to assistant chief. He was interim chief beginning in January 2018 before Mayor Melvin Carter made it official in November 2019.

“Chief Inks’ leadership and deep commitment to our city has strengthened our Community-First Public Safety vision, reaffirming that effective emergency response begins with trust,” Carter said in Friday’s statement. “He’s helped shape a department that’s not only ready in crisis, but also connected to our residents and neighborhoods every day.”

The city said Inks’ “notable accomplishments” include:

• Increasing EMS and fire staffing to the highest levels in department history through an “innovative … schedule that also reduced overtime costs.”

• Implementing Basic Life Support (BLS) and Advanced Life Support (ALS) emergency medical response models, which has improved response times and created more than 30 new local jobs.

• Coordinating 200 emergency responders during the COVID-19 pandemic and periods of civil unrest by managing over 50 incidents during a 12-hour period in the days after George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis and “preventing millions in property damage.”

• Securing funding and approval for a new fire station in the city’s highest-call volume area.

“I’m deeply grateful for the opportunity to continue serving as fire chief in the city I’ve worked in for four decades,” Inks said in the statement. “I’m proud of the team of professionals I work alongside every day, and proud of the service we provide to the residents of St. Paul.”

Inks’ next term officially begins on Nov. 13.

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