Kristi was born in southern California in Panorama City, which is located near Pasadena.  She grew up in Yucaipa which is a city east of Los Angeles and part of California’s Inland Empire. Her father and her mother, who had long careers with Union Pacific Railroad and Bank of America respectively, instilled in Kristi and her two siblings the values of hard work and loyalty.  Those lessons have had a huge impact on Kristi’s life.  

 

In school, Kristi excelled in sports, particularly soccer, which earned her a soccer scholarship at Hope International University which is a small private college located in Fullerton, California.  Kristi wanted to be a teacher and earned her degree in Education in 2003.  Perhaps even more important she met Daniel Gagnon, her husband of almost 25 years, there.  They have two grown children: their son Elijah who is 23 and their daughter Taylor who is 21.  

 

In 2003, Daniel’s ties to Arizona brought the family to Prescott.  Kristi still loved being around sports and coached soccer and softball, while Daniel worked as a draftsman.  Once her daughter Taylor was born, she started substitute teaching as well.   A fellow softball coach thought Kristi would be a great fit for the Prescott Fire Department. She told us, working for a fire department had never crossed her mind before that.  But once she met the people there it was like magic.  Kristi knew this was where she belonged.  She got the job with Prescott Fire, and after training and certification became a fire inspector, and was a certified firefighter and EMT as well.  

 

Kristi told us that women tend to shy away from traditional firefighting careers for numerous reasons, including the long shifts, and difficult calls that they have to experience.  That is why women make up only about 5% of career firefighters.  We had a laugh when Kristi told us when she was pursuing joining a fire house full time, Daniel balked at her being the only woman in the one bunkhouse full of men at the station.  In 2006 when she started with the Prescott Fire Department, they still had not built out the fire houses to accommodate women, since they had only hired their first female firefighter in 2006. So, Kristi decided to go all in on the prevention side of firefighting, which certainly fit her situation as a young mother as well.

 

As we continued our conversation with her, we just fell in love with Kristi.  Her spirit propels her into continuously trying to improve her performance and standing in her life.  In 2012, the position of Fire Marshal opened up in Camp Verde.  She was not sure if that was the direction she wanted to go in, but she applied for the job and got it.  Her husband Daniel had family in the area, and the family moved the 50 miles east from Prescott to Camp Verde.  The department that serves that area is called the Copper Canyon Fire and Medical District.  They spent 7 years there and Kristi thrived in her new position.

 

During this time, she joked that she rescued the rest of her family from California and they all moved to Arizona.  Because of that, their ties to the valley were growing, including the church they attended which is located in Cave Creek.  Maybe by providence she learned about an opening in the Scottsdale Fire Department while instructing at a fire conference in Phoenix.  Kristi told us that Scottsdale Fire was the only fire department in the Valley that she would consider working for because of their outstanding reputation in the fire service.  After some soul searching, she applied for the Scottsdale job and got it.  It was a lower rank than her current job, but she was excited to be a part of a great organization and knew the growth potential was there in our department. So, in 2019 they moved to Cave Creek which is still fairly close to Scottsdale and near their church.  

 

Kristi had found her home in the Scottsdale Fire Department, which just finished celebrating its 20th year as a municipal agency taking over from Rural Metro in 2005.  Through hard work and study, Kristi was promoted to Scottsdale Fire Marshal in 2022.  Her job is coordinating all the fire prevention activities and risk reduction of the department including their continuous efforts to mitigate risk to the wild land areas of our city.  One of her greatest responsibilities, in addition to protecting our community members, is to protect the firefighters and emergency responders, and reduce their risks as well.  Kristi still sees a lot of growth potential in her job and is not going anywhere.  Perhaps calling on her coaching experience, Kristi is actively involved in championing the core values of the department.

 

It did not take long for her boss, and our Scottsdale Fire Chief, Tom Shannon, to recognize Kristi as an up-and-coming community leader.  In 2023, he recommended that Kristi go through Scottsdale Leadership.  She applied to our program and joined Class 38 which graduated in 2024.  She loved the experience and agrees with us that Scottsdale Leadership is critical to foster smart capable people who know how to lay the groundwork for our city to successfully lure great companies to our community. Kristi fits that bill to a tee.

 

Kristi and Daniel have created a great life for themselves and their family in our area.  Daniel now owns his own handyman business and Kristi is busy doing everything she can to save us from fire emergencies.  We asked her how they decompress at the end of a long day.  We smiled when Kristi told us that, among other things, they love to sit in front of large jigsaw puzzles and piece them together.  She also told us that they work out together at the gym every morning at 5:30 and have taken up paddle boarding.  As much as she loves being at home, they did take a family trip to Europe last year.  Kristi also mentioned they have a family tradition, spanning four generations, of spending time in Greer, Arizona which is in the beautiful White Mountains of Arizona each summer.

 

Above their bed in their home they have a sign that reads “And So Together They Built a Life they Loved”.   We think Kristi likes this saying because it not only describes their commitment to their family, but also to their spiritual community as well.  Although she did not mention per se, it was evident that it also applies to the citizens and community of Scottsdale also.  

 

Kristi is a great addition to our Scottsdale Leadership family.  As we finished our time with her, we understand now her desire to give everyone in Scottsdale the peace of mind that the Scottsdale Fire Department, and her team, will do everything they can to keep us safe.  That is worth a lot.