The Contra Costa County Fire Protection District reorganized its management and information technology departments in June and also bid farewell to an assistant fire chief, who retired after 29 years with the district.
Ed Gonzales departed the district at the end of June. “I was fortunate to have had the opportunities to promote through each rank to end my career working as the assistant fire chief leading our operations division,” Gonzales said. “I’m glad to have been involved in the time of rebuilding (Lafayette) Fire Station 16 and reopening Engine 1 in Walnut Creek to strengthen our response levels.”
Fire Chief Jeff Carman praised the chief for making ConFire a better place over his long career. “Chief Gonzales’ work to make our organization a leader in the fire service will be long remembered, and we wish him nothing but success in all he does in retirement,” Carman said.
The district promoted Battalion Chief Chuck Stark as interim assistant chief of emergency operations. ConFire expects to name a permanent assistant chief in six to nine months.
Addressing the expansion of the district communications and dispatch center, and the increasing importance of technology in the fire service, Carman again stayed inside the company and promoted a ConFire employee to a new chief officer position.
“I’m pleased to announce Fire Captain Will Pigeon has been promoted to assistant fire chief, Communications Division,” Carman said. Pigeon will lead the newly created ConFire division which comprises 44 personnel in the Contra Costa Regional Fire Communications Center and the district’s Information Systems group. The new division includes fulltime dispatchers and dispatch supervisors, plus the ambulance system monitors, who were added in 2016 as part of the district Alliance with American Medical Response. The center dispatches emergency calls for seven county fire agencies, including the Moraga-Orinda Fire District.
“The fire service and technology are two of my greatest interests. I’m honored to bring them together to serve as assistant chief for Contra Costa County Fire,” Pigeon said. “I look forward to working with our great team to provide even better and more efficient services to our community.”
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA