Portland, OR, Top Pick for Fire Chief Backs Away after Accepting

Portland officials’ top pick for a new fire chief accepted a formal job offer from the city earlier this month only to then walk back the decision, The Oregonian/OregonLive has learned.

Reginald Freeman, a former Oakland, Calif. fire chief now working as a private contractor in Saudi Arabia, agreed in writing to the $247,000-a-year position June 17 — the same day the city offered it to him, according to Portland spokesperson Alison Perkins.

Several days later, on June 20, the 46-year-old posted a photo of himself on Instagram holding a cigar and wearing a Portland firefighters union T-shirt and a pensive look.

“When you take the time to think about where you’ve been, where you are now & where you’re going, you can’t help but to praise God,” read the post, which is no longer public.

Yet Freeman, one of two finalists to lead the city’s 780-member Fire Bureau following the retirement of Chief Ryan Gillespie in March, apparently had a change of heart. He contacted the city June 25 and turned down the chief’s job, Perkins said, declining to provide further details.

Freeman did not respond to a request for comment Monday. When contacted by The Oregonian/OregonLive on June 22 about the Instagram post that hinted he’d been selected for the Portland job, he swatted down the speculation.

“I’m not sure why any post that I have made would indicate anything of that nature,” he said in an email at the time. “I frequently post philosophical and motivational messages on my social media accounts.”

Freeman’s nearly 25-year fire and emergency services career has spanned multiple states, the public and private sectors and even continents.

A onetime fire leader for defense giant Lockheed Martin, he later served five years as fire chief in Hartford, Conn. before taking Oakland’s top fire job in 2021.

Freeman left that post in 2023 after just two years, reportedly to become the chief risk officer of a Connecticut-based insurance company. Since November, he’s worked as a public safety executive director for Neom, a futuristic megacity under construction in northwest Saudi Arabia. The multi-billion dollar project has faced allegations of widespread labor abuse by prominent human rights groups.

In addition to Freeman, Lauren Johnson, an assistant fire chief in Dallas, had emerged as a Portland fire chief finalist. She joined the agency in 1999, working her way up the ranks to become deputy chief in 2017 and was promoted to assistant chief six years later.

Johnson and Freeman both traveled to Portland earlier this month to meet with Mayor Keith Wilson, city officials and rank-and-file firefighters.

The day after Freeman turned down the job, Bob Cozzie, Portland’s deputy city administrator for public safety, emailed staff to update them on the fire chief search.

“Our initial pick for the position has withdrawn from the process,” Cozzie said. “We are in conversations with another candidate, who I fully support stepping into this role.”

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