March 1, Office of Emergency Service (OES) Fire & Rescue Branch Chief Kim Zagaris announced the appointment of San Bernardino County Fire Chief Pat Dennen to the acting position of OES Fire and Rescue Region VI Coordinator, effective immediately. San Bernardino County Fire Deputy Chief Dan Wurl was appointed as the alternate coordinator, assuming the Region Coordinator role in the absence of Chief Dennen.

There are 65 operational areas statewide and six regional areas. Region VI consists of six counties, San Bernardino, Riverside, San Diego, Imperial, Inyo and Mono Counties. Region Coordinators have a multitude of duties, including the responsibility for coordination and dispatch of regional mutual aid resources, as well as aid, encourage and approve the development of uniform fire and rescue emergency plans within the region.

When a disaster of any sort occurs and local fire resources have been exhausted, the Region Coordinator mobilizes mutual aid resources from within the six regional counties, then turns to State resources if needed.

The Regional Coordinator also coordinates back-up coverage with an area when there is a shortage of resources. Briefly in 2006, Chief Dennen held the position of Region VI Coordinator and was later elected to hold the Alternate Region Coordinator roll behind Staff Chief Bob Green who recently retired from CalFire.

Over the past three years, Dennen has held the position of Operational Area Coordinator for San Bernardino County and held the position as Region VI’s alternate region coordinator.

“Region VI and its Counties face many types of disasters, from large wild land fires and flooding, to earthquakes and other natural disasters, requiring a great deal of resource coordination and diligence. I am honored to be appointed to such a position and will do my best to meet the needs of each incident.” stated Chief Dennen.

Chief Dennen serves as Fire Chief / County Fire Warden for San Bernardino County Fire, which operates 81 facilities, encompassing more than 19,000 square miles. The County Fire District has over 1,000 employees and maintains over 600 fire apparatus, ambulances, technical rescue vehicles, fireboats, dozers, snow-cats, command units, and support vehicles. Chief Dennen is a Red-Card Certified Type II Incident Commander and Operations Section Chief and has served on a Type 1 Incident Management Team. He also serves on the Board of Directors for FIRESCOPE and was recently elected as President-Elect of the California Fire Chiefs’ Association.

Chief Dennen and Chief Wurl will hold their positions pending a formal election in the months ahead.
  

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