Santa Ana Picks Veteran Deputy in Long Beach as New Fire Chief

Allen R. (Bud) Carter, a Long Beach deputy fire chief, has been chosen to head the Santa Ana Fire Department, three weeks after the city’s first choice was dropped from consideration because he had lied on his job application, city officials announced Monday.

Carter, 46, will earn $77,457 a year, giving him the fifth-highest salary among the city’s top managers. He will take over Feb. 23 as the head of Orange County’s second-largest fire department, administering a $17-million yearly budget, city spokeswoman Maureen Thomas said.

“I’m looking forward to the opportunity of working in Santa Ana,” said Carter, who lives in Huntington Beach.

Carter was selected after Gary W. Schmitz of San Carlos was withdrawn from consideration for having lied that he had a bachelor’s degree. Schmitz, who was allowed to keep his job as chief of the South County Fire Protection Authority in San Mateo County, was fined $5,000 by officials there.

Carter said he had discussed the similarities between Santa Ana and Long Beach in conversations with City Manager David N. Ream.

“We did talk about the community development that has taken place in Santa Ana and the need for close support from all sections of the community, regardless of the ethnicity,” Carter said.

Carter’s responsibilities as deputy chief in Long Beach included training, emergency preparedness, public education, paramedic services and communications.

As chief-designate, Carter won high praise from top officials of both the Long Beach and Santa Ana firemen’s associations.

‘Qualified Individual’

“We’re very pleased with his selection. We did our own background check, and we feel he’s a very qualified individual,” said Steve Critchfield, president of the 260-member Santa Ana Firemen’s Benevolent Assn. “We look forward to making Santa Ana a good fire department.”

In Long Beach, firefighters gave Carter high marks for having an “excellent” relationship with labor and understanding the “problems of the troopers,” said Capt. Harold Omel, president of the 450-member Long Beach Firefighter Local 372.

“We’re sad to see him go. He’s a good chief. The guys in Santa Ana are fortunate,” Omel said Monday.

Omel said Carter has a good record in the area of affirmative action. The composition of the last two rookie classes for the Long Beach department was 50% minority, Omel said.

With Santa Ana’s ethnic diversity and growing population, Omel said, Carter will fit in well as chief, not only because he has worked well in Long Beach’s minority communities but because he also has rotated through Long Beach’s management integration program.

In Long Beach, top managers are routinely rotated into police, fire and city government positions for six-month stints. Carter has worked as deputy police chief and assistant city manager under the program.

The new chief will need that broad-based management background to handle Santa Ana’s department, which has suffered from management turmoil, Critchfield said.

“In the past, the turmoil has focused on style more than philosophy. The ability to manage was suspect, at least from the association’s standpoint,” Critchfield said.

Placed on Leave

Ernest Hoeft has been acting chief in Santa Ana since last January, when then-City Manager Robert C. Bobb placed Fire Chief William J. Reimer on administrative leave.

At the time of Reimer’s departure, the department had suffered morale problems, and firefighters had requested that the city remove Reimer, who was named chief in 1979.

Reimer is involved in a dispute with the city over medical and retirement benefits. Police Chief Raymond C. Davis said Reimer is officially on medical leave and has applied for disability retirement.

Carter said that he had heard about Santa Ana’s morale problems but added that his personnel management experience may help.

“I think the main thing is to be able to get everybody working for the same mission. Firefighters universally respond to strong direction and leadership. And I really think that’s what this department needs,” Carter said.

County’s Second Largest

With 280 firefighters and management personnel, the Santa Ana Fire Department is the county’s second largest. The Orange County Fire Department, which has about 1,000 members, is the largest.

The fine against Schmitz, whose fire-protection district covers the cities of San Carlos and Belmont, was levied recently by directors of the South County Fire Protection Authority, according to San Carlos Mayor Victor Stoltz.

“He’s still the chief, but we assessed the fine because we wanted to maintain the integrity of the department,” Stoltz said in a telephone interview Monday.

Stoltz noted that Schmitz had been with the fire protection authority for at least nine years.

Ralph Andersen & Associates, the same recruiting company that dealt with Schmitz, had recommended Carter as one of the three finalists for the Santa Ana position. Carter’s selection was made by City Manager Ream, Thomas said.

Rescued Woman

Carter, for seven years one of four Long Beach deputy chiefs, has been with the Long Beach department for 22 years.

He won a meritorious award in 1973 when, as a fire captain, he carried a woman overcome by smoke from an apartment fire in which one person died.

Carter, who was born in Southern California, said he received a bachelor’s degree in sociology in 1963 and a master’s degree in public administration in 1977 from Cal State Long Beach.

He is presently enrolled in the executive fire officers program at the National Fire Academy in Maryland.

Carter is married, and he and his wife, Marilyn, have two daughters, 16 and 18.

Times staff writer Andy Rose contributed to this story.