San Rafael's loss is Fremont's gain. Fremont City Manager Fred Diaz announced Wednesday that Bruce Martin, 44, will head the city's fire department, leaving the same post he held with the San Rafael Fire Department for a little more than a year.
Martin replaces interim Fire Chief Bill Reykalin, who is retiring after 13 years with the Fremont department. Reykalin was filling in for Willie McDonald, who served less than two years as Fremont's fire chief before taking a job to head up a new department in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Martin was hired in San Rafael in January 2004 to head a full-service fire department with six stations and 81 employees. Fremont has 153 full-time employees and 10 fire stations.
Before landing in San Rafael, Martin was a battalion chief in Palo Alto and Mountain View, a deputy fire chief in Sonoma County and a fire captain in Redwood City, where he began his firefighting career in 1982. Martin also is an assistant professor at the College of San Mateo, where he teaches fire financial management.
Martin graduated with a bachelor's degree in business administration from the College of Notre Dame and an associate degree in fire science from Indian Valley College in Marin County.
Distributed by the Associated Press
