Santa Maria’s interim fire chief Jeff Jones recently got a promotion, according to an announcement from city officials. Starting April 24, he’ll be the city’s new fire chief.
Jones was expected to be honored at a badge pinning ceremony during the City Council’s April
20 meeting. He’s been serving as the acting fire chief since September 2009, following the retirement of longtime fire chief Frank Ortiz.
“I’m really excited to be taking over the position as fire chief,” Jones said in a recent interview with the Sun. “We have a lot of great, talented people who work for the city and the fire department. I’m also honored to be succeeding Frank Ortiz in the job. Even though he’s younger than me, I’ve always looked up to him as
a mentor.”
Jones said one of the biggest tasks facing the department will be completing construction on two new fire stations in the north part of the city.
“We’re in the final process now. We expect construction to end [on Fire Station No. 3] over the next 18 months,” he said. “And our next challenge will be finding the $1.6 million worth of funding for Station No. 5.”
The city is currently looking at a handful of different options, including grants, he said.
An additional challenge will be replacing the department’s retiring workforce. Jones said a good chunk of firefighters are expected to retire in the next three to five years.
“That demands trained, educated, and qualified firefighters to fill those positions,” he said, adding that the department will be focusing a good deal of energy on training and recruiting such individuals.
According to the city, Jones began his career 32 years ago with the San Luis Obispo Fire Department in July 1978. He joined the Morro Bay Fire Department in 1979, and served as its chief for almost 13 years. In 2004, he joined the Santa Maria Fire Department as a battalion chief, before being asked to fill in as acting chief.
His fire service experiences include spending 14 years on incident management teams and responding to some of the largest wildfires in California’s history. He also spent a month in the New Orleans area working in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Jones earned his associate’s degree in fire technology from Allan Hancock College and a bachelor’s degree in occupational studies from California State University, Long Beach.
He’s a member of the Rotary Club, the League of California Cities, the Fire Chiefs Association of Santa Barbara County, the California Fire Chiefs Association, and the International Association of Fire Chiefs.
He and his wife, June, live in Santa Maria and have two daughters.
This article appears in Apr 22-29, 2010.