City officials have selected Santa Maria’s next fire chief. Dan Orr will officially take over for retiring Fire Chief Jeffrey Jones on Dec. 20 after a badge-pinning ceremony at the City Council meeting.
Orr has been a chief officer with the city since 2001, and served the last seven years as a battalion chief. Prior to coming to Santa Maria, he was the fire chief for the city of Pismo Beach.
In an interview with the Sun, Orr said he came to the Santa Maria Fire Department because the city—and its much larger population—posed a greater challenge than did the community of Pismo Beach.
Orr said some of his priorities as fire chief will be to help the department grow, both professionally and in terms of facilities, and to educate the public more about the department’s duties.
“The department has come such a long way in a relatively short amount of time,” he said. “We’re currently working on two new fire stations—one is a replacement station and the other is completely new.”
Orr said he’ll help city officials brainstorm additional funding sources to pay for maintenance and staffing at the Suey Crossing Road station, such as a tax initiative or grant proposal.
“The challenge of our times will be to decide if we want to put something before the voters … because let’s face it, everybody’s tired of paying taxes,” he said.
Orr and his wife, Melinda, live in Santa Maria and have two children. In his spare time, Orr regularly volunteers for Catholic Charities, Inc.
This article appears in Oct 20-27, 2011.