"I'm just a firefighter"

He has been mistaken for film star Mel Gibson, posed in a “dark” tanning salon ad and, this weekend, will appear on local radio to expound his city’s virtues.

This trifecta begs the question: Is outgoing Battle Ground Mayor Mike Ciraulo destined to win Clark County’s Next Top Multimedia Star in 2011? (NOTE: Ciraulo locked up Clark County’s Next Top Model Prize with his Zoolander-esque “Tan Steel” gaze in an ad for B.G.’s Summer Skin.)

Ciraulo will appear Saturday morning in a pre-taped segment on Vancouver businessman Jim West’s Commercial Real Estate program on local radio station KKOV 1550 AM. Ciraulo, B.G. Community Development Director Robert Maul and Russell Brent, owner of the Mill Creek Pub in B.G. will appear on the show to discuss the city’s continued growth. The show will air between 10 and 11 a.m.

Ciraulo laughed Friday morning at suggestions he had blossomed into a multimedia star.

“I’m just a firefighter,” he said.

Ciraulo announced earlier this month that he would step down from his position as Battle Ground’s mayor due to an increasing workload as division chief for Clark County Fire and Rescue. He will remain on the city’s council, however.

He insists he has used his “celebrity” to increase the city’s visibility. For instance, he said he did the tanning salon ad to promote a new business.

“Everything I do is in the best interest of Battle Ground,” Ciraulo said. “It’s never about me.”

Spoken like the Clark County’s Next Top (Humble) Multimedia Star.