County Picks Lund as New Fire Chief

George E. Lund, an up-through-the-ranks veteran of the Ventura County Fire Department, was named fire chief Tuesday in a move that county officials said would bring stability to a department that has had four different leaders in five years.

Lund, 49, who joined the Fire Department in 1967, was selected from a field of 60 candidates, including chiefs of several large fire agencies in Southern California, said county Chief Administrative Officer Richard Wittenberg.

“This job was a plum,” Wittenberg said.

A selection committee composed of Supervisors Maggie Erickson and Madge L. Schaefer and Wittenberg unanimously selected Lund for the $72,092-a-year position. Ratification by the full Board of Supervisors is expected Tuesday.

When confirmed, Lund will immediately assume control of the department, which has 420-employees, 32 fire stations and an annual budget of $43 million. It provides protection for all of the county except for the cities of Fillmore, Oxnard, Santa Paula and Ventura.

“Our department has always said, ‘Why don’t you hire from within?’ ” Erickson said after Lund’s selection. “And I’ve always said that we have to hire the best person. This time it was very gratifying that we had a very outstanding candidate from within the department.

“We were really impressed with the way he answered questions,” Erickson added. “He was very direct and honest. And he is well-respected by the troops.” Lund is now a deputy chief in charge of operations.

Lund said that only he and one other county firefighter were among the 60 candidates for the top job. Eighteen were interviewed. The three finalists were Lund, Santa Barbara County Fire Chief Richard Peterson and a fire chief from the San Francisco Bay Area, Lund said.

“I don’t think things will be a whole lot different,” Lund said. “The county is assured of at least seven years of stability and, hopefully, that will benefit this organization.”

Lund said he is committed to stay in Ventura until he reaches retirement age in 1997. He said that two changes in leadership since veteran Chief Stan Matson retired in 1985 have prompted periods of adjustment and caused “the organization to be less productive until the adjustments were made.”

After Matson, Wes Kilkrease, now chief of a small Texas fire department, served for about two years. The next chief, Randy Coggan, resigned earlier this year because of an illness in his family and returned to Florida, county officials said.

For Lund, who was a carpenter until he was 25, the promotion was his third in the past 2 1/2 years after 10 years as a battalion chief. “A lot of it is timing and opportunity,” he said.

Erickson said that the selection committee was impressed by Lund’s determination to hire firefighters who are college-educated even though he holds no university degree.

“He has forward-thinking ideas about bringing men and women into the department with college education,” she said. Lund said he has accumulated 75 college units in fire science and taken some general education courses.