LAKE STEVENS — Peter Mongillo, the public information and education officer for Snohomish Regional Fire & Rescue (SRFR) and a former television photojournalist, died at his home after a battle with cancer, SRFR announced Monday.
Mongillo joined the regional fire agency in 2022 after a 21-year career as a photojournalist, most recently with Seattle’s KOMO News. He quickly became a valued colleague known for telling stories that celebrated people, educated the public and made the work of firefighters and staff visible to the community he served.
Snohomish Regional Fire & Rescue serves about 160,000 residents in Lake Stevens, Monroe and unincorporated southeast Snohomish County and answers an average of 12,000 calls a year. Mongillo, who was raised in Bothell and described himself as a lifelong Washingtonian, was a father of two daughters who attend Lake Stevens schools. Colleagues also remembered him as an avid angler, classic Volkswagen enthusiast and year-round outdoor explorer.
In June 2025 he was diagnosed with stage IV esophageal cancer and given a 25% chance of surviving one year. He lived more than a year beyond that prognosis. In a July interview with former KOMO colleague Kelly Koopmans, Mongillo spoke openly about dying and said he hoped to reduce the stigma around talking about death.
“It’s life,” he said. “Life is death, and as morbid as that may sound, we are all born, and we all die. It’s something you can embrace and be a part of the journey. It’s not the journey I necessarily wanted, but it’s the journey that’s chosen me, and I have to accept it.”
The Washington Professional Fire Educators Association and the Washington State Fire Chiefs Association recently selected Mongillo for a Lifetime Achievement Award recognizing his excellence, integrity and lasting impact as a public information officer and public educator. The award will be presented in his honor at the Fire Prevention Institute Educational Conference in Chelan in October.
To honor his work and the courage he showed through illness, Snohomish Regional Fire & Rescue established the Peter Mongillo Courage Award. It will recognize personal and professional resilience, determination and strength through adversity.
“While Peter’s professional accomplishments were extraordinary, he was so much more than the work he did,” SRFR wrote in a statement. “He was a friend, a caring colleague, a loving father and someone who brought determination, compassion, and heart to those around him. His absence will be deeply felt across our organization and throughout the community he served.”
Fire Chief Brian Park asked the public to keep Mongillo’s family, friends and colleagues in their thoughts.
Author: Mario Lotmore
