Long Beach Fire Chief Announces His Retirement

Long Beach Fire Department Chief Alan Patalano, who was been with the city for 27 years but chief for only a year and 10 months, announced his retirement Wednesday.

His retirement will be effective April 6, and the appointment of an interim, acting fire chief, will be made by April 16, said Diana Tang, a government affairs analyst for the City of Long Beach.

Beyond spending more time with family, there was no reason given for why Patalano was retiring, however, a resident noted on an LBReport.com story that the City of Long Beach's retirement system pays a majority of an employee's last salary.

``I am extremely proud to have served as chief of the Long Beach Fire Department,'' Patalano said in his retirement announcement. ``The women and men who wear the Long Beach Fire Department uniform are truly the best in their class.''

The Long Beach Fire Department has 604 employees, including full-time sworn, ambulance operators and lifeguards, Tang told Patch. On Tuesday night's Long Beach City Council agenda was the question of fire department staffing and whether response times to calls have worsened due to staff cuts by the Council trying to balance yearly budgets. LBReport.com quoted City Manager Pat West as asserting that they've not been impacted as have City of L.A. A report with specifics was requested by Council Members Gerrie Schipske, Rae Gabelich and Steve Neal. They asked city management to "disclose response rates of the Fire Department since cuts in services were enacted." The agenda item LBReport.com excerpted stated:

"Over the past several budget cycles, the Mayor and City Manager have recommended to the City Council that reductions in fire services be enacted. These cuts included "rolling brownouts" -- taking an engine out of service at a different station each day - or lightforce duty at some stations.

Additionally, daily staffing has been at an all time low level as shown in the follow data:

2007 - 133 firefighters
2008 - 137 firefighters
2009 - 137 firefighters
2010 - 133 firefighters
2011 - 122 firefighters
2012 - 117 firefighters

When the City Council asked if response times would be impacted by the cuts, we were assured that response times would remain high.

Subsequently, firefighters report that as a result of these cuts, response time has been slowed in some instances where staff and equipment must travel across the city due to an engine out of service at another station."

Prior to being appointed chief, Patalano served in deputy chief posts overseeing support services, operations and fire prevention. He was the 16th chief in the department's 115-year history.

``Chief Patalano will be greatly missed, and I'm incredibly appreciative of his service to the city and this community,'' City Manager West said in a news releases.

--with added City News Service information.