Chief David Rocha, who led the Alameda County Fire Department through regional consolidation efforts and was named the state’s top fire chief last year, will retire August 15, the department said Tuesday.
Rocha, who worked for a private ambulance company before starting his firefighting career in San Leandro in April 1987, earned a bachelor’s degree in public administration. After serving as a fire Inspector, engineer, captain, battalion chief, and assistant and deputy fire chief, he was appointed fire chief in 2014.
Last year, Rocha was named the California Fire Chiefs Association’s Ronny J. Coleman Fire Chief of the Year, joining former Alameda County fire chiefs William McCammon in 2006 and Sheldon Gilbert in 2011 as an honoree.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed Rocha for a four-year term to the state’s board of fire services, which advises the state’s fire marshal, in May 2019.
Under Rocha’s tenure, the fire department carried out several key resource-consolidation efforts, including the deployment of the Alameda County Regional Emergency Communications Center, which dispatches fire apparatus, ambulances and fire and rescue mutual-aid resources for sixteen California counties.
In a statement, the department said the Alameda County Board of Supervisors has named Las Vegas Fire and Rescue Chief Willie McDonald as Rocha’s replacement effective August 17.
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