Come June, Eastside Fire & Rescue will be down a man.

Deputy Chief Bud Backer will be leaving Eastside Fire to accept a position with East Pierce Fire and Rescue as fire chief June 15. His last day with EF&R will be June 10.

“I’m pretty excited about it,” Backer said. “It’s a pretty good feeling.”

The East Pierce department opened its search nationally. Backer was one of 21 initial candidates and among the five finalist for the position, the Bonney Lake-Sumner Courier-Herald reported Tuesday.

Backer had hoped to take over when Eastside Fire & Rescue Chief Lee Soptich, when he retires in January 2016. However, after the Eastside Fire regional board of directors unanimously decided to widen the search to also include external candidates, he decided to look at other options. The deadline to apply for the East Pierce position was in mid-April, Backer said.

He said he looks forward to working within a department that really behaves as a single entity. While the interlocal agreement holds Eastside Fire & Rescue partners, the city of Sammamish, Issaquah and North Bend, as well as Districts 10 and 38, together, each group is concerned with individual rights, Backer said.

While Backer faces the challenges of handling a financial shortfall at East Pierce, he said he’s looking forward to being able to plan and work within a department he knows will still be there in a decade.

Backer joined EF&R in 2010 and became deputy chief in 2011. He spent nine years as deputy chief for the Woodinville Fire and Life Safety department in Washington prior to joining Eastside Fire.

He was fire chief at King County Fire District 45 from 1998 to 2000.

Backer graduated from Eastern Washington University with a bachelor’s degree in industrial technology and graduated from Grand Canyon University in Arizona with a master’s degree in Fire Service Leadership.

Backer is also a graduate from the National Fire Academy’s Executive Fire Officer program.