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Rialto Pins Badge on Fire Departments Chief
By frhayes | December 17, 2008
The following article was published today, Wednesday, December 17, 2008 in the Sun Newspaper, covering San Bernardino and the Inland Empire by Staff Writer Josh Dualancy.
RIALTO – The city welcomed its new fire chief Tuesday.
Robert Espinosa stood proud inside the garage of Fire Station 201 as his wife, Laurie, pinned the badge on him in front of a crowd of about 75 friends, family and firefighters from the department he now commands.
After a speech in which he touched on some of the highlights of more than three decades in what he deemed a “noble profession,” the 50-year-old Espinosa made a promise to those who are curious about his leadership style.
“This is not going to be a solo fire chief show,” Espinosa said. “It’s going to be a cooperative effort by everybody to make sure we are doing what’s best for the department and what’s best for the city and what’s best for the citizens.”
Espinosa takes the reins here after 24 years in the Long Beach Fire Department, where he capped his tenure as an assistant fire chief.
He leads a department reeling from infighting such as arbitration hearings pitting some rank-and-file personnel against their bosses.
But after a celebratory swearing-in, it was difficult to detect in Espinosa anything other than optimism about the department’s direction.
“You can always improve on morale, and I think what you’re looking at is people that are very excited about change,”
he said. “I think they’re very excited about the future, and new ideas and leadership.”
And at least one colleague suggested that pressures from outside the department could prove more worrisome than those from within.
“He’s taking leadership at a time when there’s no money,” said Jim Ballard, who served as interim chief from early July through last week. “That’s going to be a real challenge.”
Both Ballard and Espinosa said budget woes locally and statewide will make for a difficult transition, but it can be navigated by more efficiently delivering service to the community.
Ballard added that Espinosa has the experience to make it happen.
“He’s decisive, knows where he’s going, knows how to get there,” Ballard said. “He has all the skills for the job. There’s no question about that.”
Espinosa said one of his biggest accomplishments in Long Beach was negotiating a contract between the firefighters’ union and the city.
The chief, who lives in Orange County, will work as a full-time employee at a rate of $14,441 a month, according to the city’s Human Resources Department.
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