Fire Chiefs

Fire chiefs in tinder-dry Southern California, faced with lean budgets while more people squeeze into the region, are starting to rethink long-standing policies on ordering mass evacuations in a wildfire, debating whether it may be wiser in some situations to let residents stay and defend their homes. "We don't have enough resources to put an engine at every house in harm's way," said Ventura County Fire Chief Bob Roper.

As Helen Jo worked her way to the front of the room to receive her new badge last week, a stream of colleagues, family and friends crowded and cheered around the freshly promoted deputy chief -- the first woman and the first Asian American to achieve such a rank in the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Jo, who assumed her new position in April, joined the Fire Department in 1998 as a budget officer and became chief of the financial management division in 2002.

A Los Angeles Fire Department deputy chief who oversaw probes of two now high-profile discrimination lawsuits is being reassigned, a move that in effect demotes him as second in command of the 3,900-member force.

Nearly four years after the worst wildfires in state history raged across Southern California, officials have yet to implement some of the key reforms developed in the aftermath of the disaster that killed more than two dozen people and destroyed thousands of homes. The state faces another potentially disastrous fire season, with the Southland recording its driest year on record. Already, there have been several major blazes this year -- far earlier than usual.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa scrapped his search for a new fire chief Monday, naming interim Fire Chief Douglas L. Barry to run a department buffeted by civil rights lawsuits and a budding federal employment discrimination investigation. Villaraigosa, who will hold a news conference today to announce his selection of the 32-year department veteran, would not comment on the decision to abandon what had been billed as a nationwide recruitment effort.

After 45 minutes of mostly gentle questioning, the Los Angeles City Council voted 14 to 0 Tuesday to appoint Douglas L. Barry as chief of the Fire Department. Shortly after the vote, Barry was sworn into office by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa at a ceremony outside City Hall. Barry, 54, is the first African American to serve as chief of the department, which has more than 3,900 firefighters.

Fire Chief Peter R. Hills, the county's top fire official since 1998, will retire in March, county officials announced Wednesday. The fire chief, who came to the county from a similar position in Loma Linda, has overseen a department with 916 employees, 232 firefighters and 67 fire stations, in addition to county hazardous-materials units and its Office of Emergency Services. The county has not announced whether it will install an interim or permanent replacement when Hills leaves.

County supervisors selected a county fire chief/fire warden to replace current Chief Peter R. Hills, who announced his retirement last month. Apple Valley resident Patrick A. Dennen, 48, the assistant fire chief, will step into his new role next month. Dennen has held positions at various fire departments, including deputy chief for the Army's National Training Center in Fort Irwin.

Fire Chief Jeff Bowman announced his resignation Tuesday, frustrated by the city's refusal to substantially boost the Fire Department's funding after the 2003 fire that destroyed more than 300 homes in the city. Mayor Jerry Sanders asked Bowman, who has not lined up another job, to reconsider on Monday, but he declined. His resignation, which caught city officials by surprise, is effective June 30. "This hurts," said City Council President Scott Peters.

Acting Fire Chief Tracy Jarman accepted an offer Monday from Mayor Jerry Sanders to become fire chief, replacing Jeff Bowman, who resigned June 1 in frustration at the city's chronic under-funding of the Fire Department. Jarman, 50, a 22-year veteran of the department, had been an assistant chief since 2003. If confirmed by the City Council, she would become only the second woman to head a major metropolitan fire department in the U.S.