CA Fire Chief Hands in Sudden Resignation

Chief Greg Benson has stepped down as head of the Victorville Fire Department, and a former city fire official will fill in until a replacement is selected.

City spokesperson Sue Jones said in an email that Benson gave his resignation Monday. Jones did not provide a reason for his departure, saying her response was limited because the matter was related to human resources.

Interim Fire Chief John Becker will oversee the department "until a permanent fire chief can be recruited," the city said.

Jones said Becker comes with 36 years of fire service experience. He rose through the ranks in the VFD and served as its fire chief until 2008.

According to a previous Daily Press report, he "abruptly retired after the City Council's decision to contract with San Bernardino County for fire services" on May 13, 2008.

"Becker stormed out of Tuesday night's special council meeting after the vote was announced, slamming doors as he left City Hall," the Daily Press reported at the time.

Becker criticized the Council's decision in an interview less than two months later, saying he wasn't allowed to speak during a closed-session workshop when the vote occurred.

"The reason I retired immediately after that was because I was not even asked my opinion at the workshop," he said. "Certainly in such a tremendously important decision, the head of the department that represents the employees should be given a chance to speak."

Victorville contracted with the San Bernardino County Fire Department until 2019 when it transitioned back to a city-run department, a move that officials said would cut costs.

Benson, a former fire chief with more than 35 years of public safety experience, was selected after a nationwide search in 2018 and oversaw the transition, which was contentious at times.

One of his long-term goals was to get VFD accredited by the Commission on Fire Accreditation International, a process that typically takes three to five years. Fewer than 3,000 fire department nationwide have achieved it.

"We're not falling on the old, 'This is the way we do things here because we've always done it that way' mentality," Benson said in an interview before being hired. "We want to bring in new ideas to use our resources better."

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