On August 1, 2006, I was honored to accept the position of Riverside Unit Chief and the Riverside County Fire Chief. The Riverside County Board of Supervisors selected me to lead the Riverside County Fire Department and CAL FIRE Director Ruben Grijalva appointed me as the Fire Chief. I am committed to being the Riverside County Fire Chief and CAL FIRE Riverside Unit Chief. I believe in always doing what is right and for the right reason. Chief Grijalva is firmly committed to improving the long- standing relationship between CAL FIRE and Riverside County. He has instructed me to insure that the relationship will continue to strengthen every day and that we are dedicated to serving the public in the best manner possible.

For the last 60 years, CAL FIRE (formerly known as CDF) and the County of Riverside have enjoyed a wonderful, cooperative relationship. Through those years, the Riverside County Fire Department has grown to be the third largest fire department in California. The public significantly benefits from our regional, integrated, cooperative fire protection system and the integration of County Emergency Services with the Fire Department. The Fire Department and Emergency Services are strong due to the combined city, county and state contributions to system.

I am very proud of the ability we have to provide the public with a high quality all risk fire department. We provide a full range of services including, municipal and wildland fire protection and prevention services, pre-hospital emergency medical services including paramedics in most of our communities, hazardous materials response, and technical rescue services. We are very proud to protect 16 cities and one community services district as part of the Riverside County Fire Department. As is true with any organization, our true strength comes from our outstanding firefighters, executive staff and support personnel. We currently have 1150 career CAL FIRE and Riverside County personnel and about 1100 citizen Volunteer Firefighters.

As your new Fire Chief, I will insure that we will place a priority on our core values of leadership, competence, integrity, safety, and customer service. We will be leaders in local and regional fire protection and community issues. We will be competent and always seek to be the best that we can be. We will be honest in everything that we do and honestly report our actions to our constituency, the public. Even though fire fighting is extremely dangerous, we will make safety a priority. Every firefighter deserves to go home safely. Lastly, we will value customer service both external and internal. Customer service is nothing more than being nice to everyone.

As I write this message, our firefighters are serving many people throughout Riverside County from the Corona area east to the Colorado River. Three hundred and fifty times every day, we respond to someone’s emergency. We intend to treat each response as an individual contact and an opportunity to do anything possible to ease the pain, mitigate the emergency, and return the family’s distress to normalcy.

The greatest potential for a devastating wildland fire in Southern California is from now until the end of the year. Soon, the dreaded Santa Ana Winds will surface and we will all be challenged. Don’t underestimate the situation and the potential for a fire that could affect your family. I hope that each of you have completed your residential hazard reduction and provided the “Defensible Space” which will significantly help our firefighters save your residence and protect your property. Please take the time to prepare in advance of an emergency and to allow us a fighting chance.

I am overwhelmed with pride to be leading this incredible and diverse department. I look forward to the challenge and to working with all the members of this department. I am proud of the men and women who have dedicated their lives to public safety. If you see your local fire crew, thank them for their dedication and for being there when you make the call.

Thank you very much,
John R. Hawkins, Fire Chief