SLO fire chief announces retirement after 34 years of service. ‘It has been my honor’

San Luis Obispo Fire Chief Keith Aggson is retiring after three years leading the city’s Fire Department, according to a news release Friday.

Aggson will retire in November, according to the release, capping 34 years in fire service. Aggson served in numerous agencies across the Central Coast, including Atascadero, Templeton and Paso Robles, before coming to the San Luis Obispo Fire Department in 2017.

“When I arrived here, SLO had a great Fire Department,” Aggson said in the release. “It has been my honor to work with the team to build up on that standard of excellence so we can be even more prepared to meet the changing needs of our community and continue to provide exceptional service.”

In the release, Aggson said fire service has changed significantly over his three decades of experience, noting that technology in particular has changed, as well as the size of major fires.

For example, the Painted Cave Fire in the Santa Barbara area in 1990 — one of his first times working in another community for mutual aid — was 5,000 acres and seen as a “significant statewide emergency,” according to the release. Today, he noted, the state regularly sees fires 10 times that size and larger.

“With more people, you have greater interaction with the natural environment, or wildland urban interface area,” Aggson said. “Add a prolonged drought and other effects of climate change, and you get a very different set of challenges as a firefighter today.”

During his time with the city, Aggson said he focused on preparing the Fire Department and community for future challenges, including helping to usher in a new Emergency Operations Plan and Community Wildfire Protection Plan, expand open-space protection using off-road vehicles and bikes, elevate fire training among recruits and employees, expand rescue capabilities and launch the city’s new Mobile Crisis Unit, which helps prevent and reduce chronic homelessness, according to the release.

“Chief Aggson has been a dedicated leader and has inspired us all to do and be better,” City Manager Derek Johnson said in the release. “I am grateful for the time we worked together and served San Luis Obispo, and I know our community is and will continue to be an even safer place thanks to his contributions.”

According to the release, the city is currently recruiting for Aggson’s replacement and hopes to hire someone “with plenty of time to ensure a smooth transition.”

The application filing deadline is Aug. 15; more information on the open position is available at www.slocity.org/jobs.