{"id":25091,"date":"2024-08-12T09:07:08","date_gmt":"2024-08-12T16:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/?p=25091"},"modified":"2024-08-12T13:22:31","modified_gmt":"2024-08-12T20:22:31","slug":"ray-iverson-retires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/ray-iverson-retires\/","title":{"rendered":"Redwood City Fire Chief Ray Iverson retires after 33-year career"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_25092\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25092\" style=\"width: 1600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-25092 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Ray-Iverson-jefe-del-Departamento-de-Bomberos-de-Redwood-City.jpeg\" alt=\"Redwood City Fire Chief Ray Iverson retires after 33-year career\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1066\" srcset=\"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Ray-Iverson-jefe-del-Departamento-de-Bomberos-de-Redwood-City.jpeg 1600w, https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Ray-Iverson-jefe-del-Departamento-de-Bomberos-de-Redwood-City-300x200.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Ray-Iverson-jefe-del-Departamento-de-Bomberos-de-Redwood-City-1024x682.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Ray-Iverson-jefe-del-Departamento-de-Bomberos-de-Redwood-City-768x512.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Ray-Iverson-jefe-del-Departamento-de-Bomberos-de-Redwood-City-18x12.jpeg 18w, https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Ray-Iverson-jefe-del-Departamento-de-Bomberos-de-Redwood-City-150x100.jpeg 150w, https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Ray-Iverson-jefe-del-Departamento-de-Bomberos-de-Redwood-City-696x464.jpeg 696w, https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Ray-Iverson-jefe-del-Departamento-de-Bomberos-de-Redwood-City-1068x712.jpeg 1068w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-25092\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">After 33 years in the firefighting profession, Redwood City Fire Department Chief Ray Iverson has announced his retirement. Photo: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.redwoodcity.org\/departments\/fire-department\/about-the-department\/command-staff\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Redwood City<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><em>[We are on WhatsApp.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/whatsapp.com\/channel\/0029VaKsQjT5K3zOISbFea2Q\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Start following us now<\/a>]<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Listen to this note:<\/p>\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-25091-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Viviana-4840966.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Viviana-4840966.mp3\">https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Viviana-4840966.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After a distinguished 33-year career in the fire service, Ray Iverson, Chief of the Redwood City Fire Department, which also serves the City of San Carlos, has announced his retirement.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chief Iverson, who joined Redwood City in June 2021, will officially retire in December of this year, but will continue to lead the department and focus on succession planning for now.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cChief Iverson has been a dedicated servant to our community,\u201d said City Manager Melissa Stevenson Diaz. \u201cHe is a strategic and creative leader who has helped us focus on continuous improvement and ensure we are prepared to meet the current and future needs of the community.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The official acknowledged Iverson&#039;s efforts to expand hiring initiatives and support an inclusive culture in the department.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For his part, San Carlos City Manager Jeff Maltbie said, \u201cChief Iverson\u2019s dedication and leadership have strengthened our fire services and created lasting partnerships. We are deeply grateful for his contributions and wish him the best in his retirement.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The City of Redwood City noted that Chief Iverson has been instrumental in forging strong relationships with key stakeholders, securing millions of dollars in federal funding to hire new firefighters and purchase new equipment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the city&#039;s 2023-24 community satisfaction survey, more than 90 percent of respondents gave top marks to the city&#039;s fire services and 82 percent to its emergency medical services.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI truly believe I have made my mark and can confidently say I am leaving this organization in a better place,\u201d said Chief Iverson. \u201cOver the past three years, I have had the privilege of hiring 29 firefighters, three fire officers and one fire chief, and promoting nine fire captains and two battalion chiefs. We have become one of the most diverse fire departments in the county.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Throughout his career, Chief Iverson has served on numerous fire departments in Northern California.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">His previous roles include Fire Chief for the San Mateo Consolidated Fire Department, Deputy Fire Chief\/Marshal for the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District, Battalion Chief\/Fire Chief for the City of Benicia Fire Department, Fire Inspector for the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District and the City of Vacaville Fire Department, and Firefighter for the City of Union City, City of Vacaville, and American Canyon Fire Protection District.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chief Iverson currently serves as President of the San Mateo County Fire Chiefs Association and President of the International Fire Service Foundation, and is an adjunct faculty member at City College of San Francisco. He is also a San Mateo Rotarian and serves as a board member for the San Mateo County Historical Association.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The city will begin an open selection process this fall, with the intention of appointing a new fire chief before Chief Iverson retires.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>You may be interested in:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/domestic-violence-response-team\/\">Join us! San Mateo County seeks members for its first domestic violence response team<\/a><\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[Estamos en WhatsApp.\u00a0Empieza a seguirnos ahora] Escucha esta nota: &nbsp; Despu\u00e9s de una distinguida carrera de 33 a\u00f1os en la profesi\u00f3n de bomberos, Ray Iverson, jefe del Departamento de Bomberos de Redwood City, que adem\u00e1s brinda servicio a la ciudad de San Carlos, anunci\u00f3 su retiro.\u00a0 Ser\u00e1 en diciembre de este a\u00f1o cuando el jefe [&hellip;]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":25092,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-25091","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-community"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25091"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25091\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25104,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25091\/revisions\/25104"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}