PORTSMOUTH, Va. -- The city's fire chief unexpectedly resigned this week after three years on the job.
Don Horton decided to return to Richmond because of family medical problems, City Manager Kenneth Chandler said Wednesday.
Beck Barfield, a former Portsmouth deputy chief who recently retired, was named interim chief of Fire, Rescue and Emergency Services, Chandler said. He has served previously as interim chief.
A phone call to an address listed for Horton was not immediately returned. He is a Richmond native and was fire chief in Pine Bluff, Ark., before he came to Portsmouth.
Mayor Kenny Wright said he learned of Horton's departure Wednesday morning in a phone call from Chandler.
"I thought he did an outstanding job when he was here," Wright said.
Horton was hired in 2009 following a U.S. Justice Department investigation into the city's use of a test that caused a disproportionate number of black firefighter applicants to be rejected, compared with white applicants.
The Justice Department did not accuse the city of intentional discrimination, but it concluded the test was not job-related. To resolve the case, the city accepted an agreement that, among other things, limited Horton's hiring of firefighters to a list of applicants who had been unfairly disqualified by the test.
The hiring restriction contributed to an increasing number of vacancies in the department. Horton responded with overtime and by pulling a fire engine from service when there were not enough firefighters available to staff it.
He also pushed initiatives that encouraged greater racial and gender diversity in the department. Last fall, he pointed to an updated vehicle fleet and reduced response times among his department's accomplishments.
Chandler also cited Horton's leadership in ushering in a fire department program that identifies vacant and dangerous buildings with placards.
Copyright 2012 - The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Va.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
