Fire Authority Finds New Chief Within Own Ranks
After searching nationwide and considering more than two dozen candidates, the Orange County Fire Authority looked to its own ranks Wednesday in choosing a new fire chief.
Charles “Chip” Prather, 44, has served with the Fire Authority and its county predecessors for 25 years. The Fire Authority’s board of directors picked him to immediately take over the agency.
Fire Authority Capt. Scott Brown said Prather was up against fire managers from throughout the United States, and “it’s a tribute that his qualifications, skill and experience stood that test.”
Prather served as the authority’s director of fire services and supervised emergency medical services, the emergency dispatch center, community volunteer services and emergency planning and disaster coordination programs. He also helped develop the department’s helicopter program and its Urban Search and Rescue Team, and was incident commander for the 1993 Laguna Beach fire.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in management from the University of Redlands, has completed the program for senior state and local government executives at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, and attended the executive fire officer program at the U.S. Fire Administration National Fire Academy.
Prather replaces Larry Holms, the only chief the Orange County Fire Department had had since it formed in 1980. Holms retired in April.
Deputy Chief Ken MacLeod served as interim chief. He did not seek the job permanently, Brown said.
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