Chris Donovan, the 10-year fire chief of Monrovia, will take the same position in the South Bay city of El Segundo later this month.
Donovan, 49, was hired after a four-month search to replace Fire Chief Kevin Smith, who retired in October.
He starts Feb. 22 and will earn an annual salary of $213,000, according to El Segundo City Manager Greg Carpenter. Donovan’s last day in Monrovia is Feb. 11.
“We are looking forward to Chris coming on board and sharing his expertise and knowledge with us,” Carpenter said. “He has shown leadership through major events, such as wildfires, and getting the community prepared for future events.”
Donovan said he feels “very fortunate and very blessed” to take the helm of the El Segundo Fire Department, which he said is about the same size as Monrovia’s, with 13 firefighters, two stations, two fire engines and one truck, though El Segundo has its own ambulances.
“El Segundo is a vibrant city, it has an outstanding reputation with economic development and the business sector, and I’m looking forward to integrating with that and bringing my education and experience to the department to better our service delivery,” he said.
Before he became fire chief in Monrovia in 2006, Donovan was at the Monterey Park Fire Department for 17 years, leaving as battalion chief.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in fire protection administration at Cal State L.A., a master’s degree in emergency management from Cal State Long Beach and is a graduate of the National Fire Academy’s Executive Fire Officer Program.
Donovan considers commanding the response to a 125-acre brush fire in Monrovia in 2013 and helping establish a $1 million regional training facility in the city to be career highlights.
Lifelong education is important to him, evidenced by the number of members of his department who have earned master’s degrees or are in the National Fire Academy.
Donovan, who grew up in Northern California, lives in Huntington Beach with his wife of 19 years, Jamie, their 16-year-old son, Connor, and 12-year-old daughter, Ava.
“Monrovia and El Segundo are not that dissimilar other than in Monrovia we’ve got a huge urban interface threat with brush fire,” Donovan said. “In El Segundo, you certainly have risks with the Chevron refinery and with high-density development, so it’s a different risk.”
Donovan said he is looking forward to returning to a fire department that does its own patient transporting. The job is contracted out in Monrovia.
“Service to the residents is much better if we are able to transport patients to the hospital, so I’m looking forward to getting back to that,” he said.
