Bruce Shellhamer couldn’t make it to the Fire District 13 Board of Commissioners meeting on Thursday when he was voted in unanimously to fill a vacancy on the board.

Fire 13 Chief Roy Horn told commissioners Chuck Hedlund and Larry Kibbee that there had been five who expressed interest in filling the board seat left vacant last month when Commissioner Arne Fohn resigned.

Horn endorsed Shellhamer, 60, for the position.

A resident of the La Conner area for 2 years, Shellhamer lives in the Pull & Be Damned Road area and is a former pastor who now works with the state Department of Social and...