FRESNO, CA (KMJ) – Cal Fire Chief Thom Porter announced his retirement Monday.
After two of the toughest wildfire seasons in California’s history, Cal Fire Chief Thom Porter announced he will be retiring Dec. 10.
Chief Porter said he will move to San Diego to “focus on family, aging parents, and self.”
“Chief Porter has seen the state through unprecedented wildfire challenges over the past three years, and Californians are fortunate to have had his steadfast leadership guiding our preparedness, response and recovery efforts.”
-California Gov. Gavin Newsom
Porter is from San Diego, and has a bachelor of forestry degree from the University of California, Berkeley.
He started his career with Cal Fire as a forester in 1999.
He became the San Diego County Departmental Unit Fire Chief, the Department’s Southern Region Chief, and then the Department’s Strategic Planning Chief.
Porter became acting director of the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection under former Gov. Jerry Brown.
He became acting chief in 2018 when Ken Pimlott retired, then Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed Porter to head Cal Fire in January 2019.
“I thank him for his over two decades of service with CAL FIRE and tireless work from day one of my Administration to protect communities across the state and implement our comprehensive forest and wildfire resilience strategy to tackle this existential threat head-on.”
-Gov. Gavin Newsom
Porter oversaw the department’s fight against three historic wildfire seasons.
According to Cal Fire, more than 4 million acres burned in wildfires in 2020, more than 3 million acres in 2021 –compared to a 5-year average of more than 843,000 acres.
The August Complex fire scorched more than one million acres in 2020 and in 2021, the Dixie Fire burned more than 963,000 acres. The Caldor Fire burned 221,775 acres and forced 22,000 people to evacuate from South Lake Tahoe.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom did not yet name Porter’s successor.
