Week in Review : MAJOR EVENTS, IMAGES AND PEOPLE IN ORANGE COUNTY NEWS : CITIES : Lying on His Application Costs Fire Chief a Job in Santa Ana

Most people think Gary Schmitz did what a lot of other people do: He lied on his application for a job. Schmitz said he had a bachelor’s degree when, in fact, he only had a junior college degree, plus a slew of units he thought were the equivalent of a bachelor’s.

Unfortunately for Schmitz, a 44-year-old fire chief in South San Mateo County, the falsehood was on his application for the job of fire chief in Santa Ana, where potential employees are carefully scrutinized.

For a while, the ruse went undetected. And when Schmitz was named to take over the troubled department in December, city officials announced his appointment with much trumpeting.

Then, the recruiting firm that found Schmitz discovered the lie in a further check of his qualifications. They told Santa Ana City Manager David Ream, who called Schmitz, and on Monday, the truth was out.

Schmitz withdrew his name from consideration and admitted that he made a “stupid mistake.”

“I spent half my life as a fireman. I’m embarrassed by what I did,” Schmitz said, saying that he was too busy moving up the corporate ladder to see what a great mistake he had made.

He apologized for any embarrassment the incident caused Santa Ana, his own department and his family, then pledged to continue his work in Northern California.

In San Carlos and Belmont, the two cities Schmitz serves, officials praised their chief and stressed that he had never misled anyone there. Wednesday night, the officials met and gave him a vote of confidence.

In Santa Ana, where the department has been wracked by dissension over such issues as allegedly too-severe discipline and the civilianization of the paramedic corps, Ream said he isn’t sure what the next move will be.

He may select one of the other three finalists for the $73,000-a-year job or open it up for a whole new round of recruitment.