April 23 - San Bernardino County Fire Chief Pat Dennen announced his retirement effective June 25.
Chief Dennen has served 36 years in the Fire Service. Chief Dennen was appointed San Bernardino County's Fire Chief/Fire Warden in April 2006, having served the citizens of San Bernardino County for more than 12 years in various ranks.
Under Chief Dennen's command, County Fire underwent a reorganization, which included consolidating 27 separate fire districts, and six special tax districts into one “mega” fire district. (This endeavor was the largest fire department consolidation in state history); established the County Fire Honor Guard; developed a state recognized Urban Search & Rescue Team, established County Fire strike teams, developed a Gel Taskforce responsible for preventing millions of dollars in losses due to wildland fires in the Urban Interface setting, and assembled a County Fire Incident Management Team (IMT) for incident support. Under Dennen, the department also developed a dozer program and a fuels management program. Another feat was County Fire's leadership in the development of the Mountain Area Safety Task Force (MAST). Together with all of the MAST partners and cooperators, County Fire helped develop a state-of-the-art partnership for managing natural disasters, creating a national model.
County Fire became a member of the Metropolitan Fire Chiefs Association (Metro Chiefs) which is only afforded to a very small number of departments worldwide. Chief Dennen was asked to serve on the Governor’s Blue Ribbon Task Force after the 2003 fires and again after the 2007 fires, a commission he still serves on today. Chief Dennen also represents all fire districts in the southern half of the state on the FIRESCOPE Board of Directors. He serves as the Operational Area Fire & Rescue Coordinator for San Bernardino County, and as the Region Coordinator for CalEMA Region 6; which includes Inyo County, Mono County, San Bernardino County, Riverside, Imperial, and San Diego Counties. Chief Dennen serves as the Approval Authority Chairman responsible for distributing millions of dollars countywide between fire departments, police and sheriff departments, and Public Health.
Chief Dennen teaches Masters and Bachelors level classes for upcoming inspiring students in the field of fire science.
"County Fire is an amazing team of true professionals who are unconditionally committed to our vision of being the Premier Fire Service Provider in Southern California. Their dedication simply amazes me. Together, we have collectively built one of the most widely respected fire departments in the state, if not the nation. It has been my honor to be the Fire Chief and Fire Warden for the largest fire protection district in the State of California, and in the largest county in the United States," Chief Dennen said. "To the men and women of County Fire, it has been an honor to be your Fire Chief."
