Deputy Chief Steve Aseltine is a 34-year veteran of the fire service. His journey to the fire service was triggered when his family home burned down, and was further solidified after doing a ride-along with his mother when she was a paramedic in Santa Barbara County, California. After this experience, Chief Aseltine enrolled in EMT school and began volunteering for a local fire/EMS agency, which led to him joining the Lakewood/Bancroft Combined Fire Authority, which later became the West Metro Fire Protection District in 1994.

Throughout his career, Chief Aseltine has served as an Apprentice Fire Medic, Firefighter Paramedic, Field Instructor, Lieutenant, Line Captain, Training Captain, Division Chief of Training, Division Chief of Field Operations, Shift Commander, Division Chief of Risk Management and Accreditation, and Deputy Chief of Life Safety.

Chief Aseltine is involved in the fire service at local, regional, and national levels. He is a Level - 1 Peer Assessor for the Center for Public Safety Excellence, having participated in numerous peer team assessments; a Task Force Leader for CO-TF1, with many deployments including the World Trade Center and Hurricane Katrina; involved in numerous work groups, strategic planning teams, and committees; and a representative for the Assistant Chief Working Agreement with the District.

He volunteers for the Trail Club in his community and serves on the Ken Caryl Ranch Open Space Committee. Chief Aseltine is also the past chair of the Colorado Metropolitan Certification Board and Leadership Jefferson County and spent many years as a technical rescue and FEMA structural collapse instructor.

Chief Aseltine holds a master’s degree in Executive Leadership and Human Resource Management from Columbia Southern University, a bachelor’s degree in Public Safety Administration from Neumann University, a Fire and Emergency Services certificate from Colorado State University, and an associate degree in Fire Service Management from Red Rocks Community College.

He is a graduate of the Rocky Mountain Leadership Program, and a graduate of Leadership Jefferson County. He is a designated Chief Fire Officer, a Fire Officer III, and a FEMA Task Force Leader. His professional affiliations include the International Association of Fire Chiefs, International Association of Fire Fighters, Rocky Mountain Accreditation Consortium, Metro Departments Accreditation Consortium, and the Fire Department Safety Officers Association.

Chief Aseltine maintains a very active Colorado lifestyle, which includes as much skiing and cycling with his family as possible. He has helped coach junior cycling and remains active in championing access and use of the outdoors in the community where he lives and serves. One of his greatest challenges was achieved in 2016 when he and his wife completed the Leadville Trail 100 mountain bike race together.

Chief Aseltine is dedicated to empowering those around him and making sure to leave everything better than he found it. He believes in training people effectively and treating them well to ensure job satisfaction and retention. An essential part of Chief Aseltine’s mission and purpose is being committed to building and maintaining the relationships that help people and communities thrive.