Ernst “Fritz” von Ibsch has been appointed to fill a seat on the board of fire commissioners for the Bainbridge Island Fire Department.

The board selected von Ibsch from a narrowed field of three candidates at their last meeting in May. The new commissioner was sworn into office on June 9.

Five people originally applied for the Position 4 seat, which was left vacant after Eileen McSherry resigned in late March because of longer days and more unpredictable workloads at her current job.

A former resident of California, von Ibsch has lived on Bainbridge Island since 2014. He works in new product development for ArcanaNetworks, Inc., a software company that specializes in network automation for Cisco Systems’ routers, switches and voice solutions.

The original slate of candidates included von Ibsch; Bruce Alward, a vice president with Wood Harbinger, an infrastructure consultant firm based in Bellevue; Bill Ruddick, a 35-year resident who owns a consulting company on Bainbridge and ran for a position on the fire board last November; Aaron Fields, a Seattle firefighter who moved to the island roughly two years ago; and Martha Turnbull, a professional projects manager and community volunteer who has called Bainbridge home for more than 18 years.

Two of the candidates — Fields and Turnbull — dropped out of consideration before the board interviewed the applicants.

von Ibsch told the board his priorities would center on response times and  staffing levels.

In his letter of interest for the position, von Ibsch — who lives in the Agate Point neighborhood — recalled the fire that destroyed a north end home in winter 2015 that was caused by a gas generator in the basement, and noted the first-in engine came from Suquamish. He said he was impressed with how the fire department and board of commissioners responded, which ultimately cumulated in a ballot measure that helped fund increased staffing and new fire stations.

von Ibsch also noted his longtime interest in the fire service, first as a  Boy Scout (he rose to the rank of Eagle Scout), and later in college in the San Fransisco Bay area, where he was a first responder firefighter for the East Bay Regional Park District’s fire department.

He has an associate’s degree in fire service technology from Chabot College in Hayward, California, and a bachelor’s degree in fire service management from California State University.

von Ibsch once tested for the Seattle Fire Department while in his 20s, he told commissioners in his letter of interest, but admitted that hoisting the required 85 pounds up eight or nine stories was a bit much and he missed the cutoff by a half second.

McSherry was about halfway through her six-year term when she stepped down. von Ibsch will complete McSherry’s original term through December 2017, and the next election for the seat will be in November 2017.

The new commissioner was chosen in the third round of voting to find a replacement.

Ruddick was first nominated to fill the vacancy after a 35-minute closed-door executive session by the board to discuss the candidates during the commissioners’ meeting May 26.

After a deadlocked 2-2 vote for Ruddick, Alward was then nominated but didn’t secure the seat after a 1-3 vote.

von Ibsch then got the nod on a unanimous vote by the board.

“I am extremely excited to get back to my roots and to start giving back to Bainbridge,” von Ibsch said.

“We are coming up on our two-year anniversary on Bainbridge,” he added. “We still pinch ourselves every day. We could not have selected a better place to raise our family and establish deep roots in the community.”

von Ibsch said he would work as commissioner to adopt standards that guarantee firefighters are as safe as possible, focus on fiscal oversight, and make certain that trust and integrity of the department is maintained with the public.

The new commissioner took the oath of office at the fire board’s meeting earlier this month.

In attendance was his wife, Sharon, his daughter, Gretchen, and son, Ehren.

The family stayed through the first agenda item when his wife noted the meeting was more boring than expected, and escaped amid chuckles from the commissioners and department staff.