Daniel Perkins can remove the interim tag from his job title.
Thursday, the City of Hanford announced that Perkins has been named as the permanent Fire Chief, becoming the 15 chief in city history.
The big picture: Perkins took over when former chief Steve Pendergrass left the department late last year.
- A native of Antelope Valley, Perkins started his career as an EMT and paramedic and joined American Ambulance in 1990.
- Perkins later worked as a firefighter in Sanger before joining the Fresno Fire Department in 2021, where he rose to the rank of Battalion Chief before retiring in 2018.
- His retirement was short lived, as he was hired as the Kingsburg Fire Chief in 2019 before making the jump to Hanford last year.
What they’re saying: “Chief Perkins has already hit the ground running by immersing himself in the department’s history, operations and current challenges,” said City Manager Mario Cifuentez. “He is the right person at the right time to lead the department into the future.”
- “I think the thing that I really enjoy the most about the community is the tradition,” Perkins said. “The tradition, but also the knowledge that the City is growing and that growth is a positive thing.”
- However, Hanford’s ability to provide adequate service in the future is up in the air as demand continues to grow without funding in place to hire more firefighters.
- “The City doesn’t have the revenue to provide a level of service necessary to meet the current demands of the community,” Perkins said. “If we do nothing, we won’t have adequate fire services into the future. We will be skeleton crews going on the minimum number of calls, and really getting to the point where we have to stop providing the current level of service. There is not another choice.”
