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 and Advanced Life Support 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.

“My family and I are honored to be given the opportunity to continue to serve the residents and visitors of the city we grew up in,” Inks, 56, said in a statement. He said the past six years have “been filled with innovation, change, and progress and it is all possible because of the women and men of the St. Paul Fire Department.”

Inks’ next term officially begins on Nov. 13.

The St. Paul firefighters’ union said they support Inks’ reappointment.

“His continued leadership brings stability at a time when consistent direction is important for our members, the fire department and the community we serve,” said Kyle Thornberg, International Association of Fire Fighters Local 21 president.

Past St. Paul fire chiefs have served long terms, and there have also been instances of sudden turnover. Inks became interim chief when Tim Butler stepped down as chief during his second term, after he’d been in the role for 10 years.

Butler was appointed after Doug Holton served as chief from 2003 to 2007. Tim Fuller was St. Paul’s fire chief for two terms, from 1991 to 2003.