Dan Talbot confimed as Riverside County Fire Department Interim Chief

The Board of Supervisors today affirmed the appointment of Riverside County Deputy Fire Chief Dan Talbot as the interim fire department chief until a permanent replacement can be found.

“I look forward to providing the highest level of service to citizens from one end of the county to the other,” Talbot said during the board meeting. “My main focus is to develop a strategic plan for the department to move us forward between now and the end of the year.”

Talbot fills the space left vacant by the removal two weeks ago of Chief John Hawkins, who helmed the fire department for more than 11 years. Hawkins was repositioned, not fired, by Cal Fire administrators, reportedly because they wanted a change of leadership, without specifying why.

He remains employed by Cal Fire, where he has worked in a variety of capacities over the last five decades.

Talbot, a resident of Bermuda Dunes, was picked to serve as acting chief, but his appointment by Cal Fire was subject to the board’s approval.

The father of two has worked as a county firefighter since 1985. “I want to look at our culture to see what we can do,” Talbot told the board prior to its executive session to consider his appointment. “We need to ask, what should we be doing and how should we be doing it?”

Among his initial priorities, he said, will be reassigning some battalion and unit chiefs, who haven’t been moved into fresh roles for more than five years.

The process of recruiting a permanent chief will begin in the next several months.

It was not immediately known whether Talbot would be wearing the chief’s hat when the board delves into budget hearings ahead of the end of the current fiscal year in June.

The fire department, like most other county public safety agencies, has contended with a structural budget deficit over the last few years.