Chris Costamagna, a 27-year veteran of the Sacramento Fire Department, has been promoted to chief.
He had been serving as the deputy fire chief of technical services, but will take on the new role immediately.
KCRA 3 reports that City Manager Howard Chan appointed Costamagna to the role after a national recruitment process, following the firing of the previous chief.
That previous chief, Gary Loesch, filed a lawsuit against the city claiming wrongful termination and deliberate exposure to COVID-19.
Costamagna takes the helm of a department with 700 employees and a $173 million budget.
Costamagna told KCRA, "I want to get out to the community groups and see what they want to see from their fire department because this is their fire department. All 700 of us are here to represent the city and getting involved in those community groups and out there with our citizens."
He went on to say, "Core values are ethics, responsibility, determination, and I think that's what you get in the Sacramento Fire Department. Everybody that wears this patch has those same core values — honor, integrity, and devotion to duty. They show up to fight the same fight, the way we've done it for the 150-year-old fire department."
