Fire Chief Retiring, Permanent Replacement Unknown

, who has been with the SMFD for 31 years, is retiring June 30, the city officially announced Thursday.

“I’ve enjoyed Jim’s fellowship and support early in my career here in San Marino,” said San Marino City Manager Matt Ballantyne in a released statement. “Jim has faithfully served our community and department. There are very few of our employees who can match his years of service and knowing Chief Anderson, I am sure he will remain active in our community.”

The city is not hiring a permanent fire chief to replace Anderson until after the results of the public safety tax, which is on the November ballot and provides a third of .

“I hope with the public safety tax coming up that the community will continue to support the city and employees,” Anderson told Patch. “They always have in the past.”

Ballantyne has appointed , along with division chiefs Rick Mayhew and Jim Frawley, to oversee the 20-man fire department in the meantime.

“It’s really not going to be any different for Chief Mayhew or I,” said Division Chief Jim Frawley. “We as division chiefs pretty much run the day-to-day and long-term operations of the fire department. The fire chief provides the leadership and support to help us achieve our goals in the most effective and efficient way.”

Frawley said, “It’s unusual to have a police chief come and oversee the fire department” but “Chief Schaefer is a great guy.”

“We’re going to work well with him and we anxiously await the passage of the safety tax and actually getting a full-time fire chief,” said Frawley.

Anderson, who began with the San Marino Police Department in 1977 before becoming a part of the fire department, semi-retired in 2007 and was working part-time as fire marshal and as fire chief over the past year when former Fire Chief John Pinedo left earlier than expected.

“The relationship with the city has been phenomenal and all the people I’ve worked with over the years,” said Anderson, who is looking at job opportunities in the private sector. “I look forward to a change in working conditions and my lifestyle but San Marino will always be special in my heart. I like to go to Chamber (of Commerce) mixers and will probably continue to do that. I really like the people there and I’m sure I’ll always be involved.”

Much has changed during Anderson’s time with the San Marino Fire Department—the advancement of firefighting equipment and techniques, the work shift system, the addition of a paramedic program in the 80s and fire sprinklers in San Marino homes, something Anderson is particularly passionate about.

“He’s been an active and essential part of the city and the community,” said Frawley. “He’s well-known and well-liked. He’s a friendly, jovial, happy guy that provided stability over the last year in heading up the fire department.”

The number of staff has fluctuated over the years but Anderson said currently the SMFD probably has its lowest number of employees ever.

What doesn’t seem to have changed much is the type of incidents Anderson deals with at the fire department.

“We have unusual events in San Marino but nothing really wacky,” Anderson said.

A South Pasadena resident for decades, Anderson was a reserve deputy sheriff in Altadena when his brother, who worked for the San Marino Police Department, told him of a SMPD job opening—and the rest is history.

“Growing up, San Marino was probably the last place I envisioned working,” said Anderson. “There was a San Marino mystique—huge mansions and rich people—and there was a rumor that if you worked in San Marino you had to live in San Marino and now I know that’s far from the truth.”