Oct. 02 -- Robert Sapien Jr., a 30-year veteran of the San Jose Fire Department who has spent more than nine months serving as the city’s acting fire chief, has been appointed to the position permanently, city officials announced Tuesday.
Sapien, who had served as the acting fire chief since December 2017 following the departure of Curtis Jacobson, assumed permanent command of the department effective Tuesday, according to a news release issued by the city. Sapien will lead a department with 823 full-time employees who respond to about 91,000 calls for service each year and conduct about 12,000 fire prevention inspections annually, according to the city.
“I can’t help but feel like today is icing on the cake,” Sapien, 50, told the San Jose City Council on Tuesday. “Despite the fact that I’ve been acting in the position for 10 months, I am numb today from emotion.”
Sapien joined his hometown San Jose Fire Department in 1989 as a firefighter and rose through the ranks as a fire engineer, fire captain, battalion chief and deputy chief of bureau of field operations. In 2016, he was appointed assistant fire chief, a position he held until Tuesday.
“Chief Sapien has made significant contributions to the department over the last three decades, and brings with him a tremendous amount of experience,” City Manager David Sykes said in a statement. “He is committed to San Jose and he is devoted to our amazing fire department, and I am thankful for his leadership during this period of transition and continued service and response to our residents.”
At Tuesday’s council meeting, Sykes indicated the city had undertaken a national recruitment effort, but said it was “good to find that we have the talent in-house to lead our departments.”
Sapien becomes the city’s 30th fire chief, and the fourth this decade, following Jacobson (January 2015 through December 2017), Ruben Torres (interim only, June 2013 through December 2014) and William McDonald (June 2010 through June 2013), all of whom departed San Jose to become fire chiefs in other cities.
Jacobson left for Fremont, Torres joined the Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department, and McDonald took the helm in Las Vegas.
“I can’t wait to get started,” Sapien said. “I am very excited.”
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