New CalFire Area Chief Takes Over Tomorrow

Eric Hoffman, a 30-year CalFire veteran, will take over tomorrow as chief of the agency’s Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit. He succeeds Tim Streblow on January 1, 2013, who last month announced his retirement at the end of the year.

The SLN unit covers the three-county area, and lists 29 fire stations in its jurisdiction, as noted on this web page. (See map with this article).

Eric Hoffman, 51, will start the new year in the unit chief’s position after serving since 2009 as chief of the unit’s west division, which covers Sonoma Count, according to this article in the Lake County News.

The tri-county fire district covers 10,000 square miles, or 2.1 million acres, and is the largest state responsibility area in California.

Since he started with Cal Fire in 1983, Hoffman has seen numerous changes in firefighting and how Cal Fire itself works.

One of the big changes has to do with training, he said.

When he began firefighting in his early 20s, Hoffman said it sounded like fun work. Back then, a young firefighter would get a week’s worth of training before they were assigned to an engine and setting out on the fire lines.

Firefighters today undergo far more intensive training, with Hoffman explaining that their level of professionalism has increased.

Read the full story on Lake County News.