ONTARIO – Ontario has elevated assistant fire chief/city fire marshall Floyd E. Clark to fire chief.

Clark, 53, reached the department’s top spot after 25 years with the department. On November 15, the city council officially signed off on his replacing Dave Carrier as chief. Carrier, who has filled the department’s top slot since February 2010, is retiring on December 23.

Clark was selected for the position by city manager Chris Hughes, who was himself fire chief before he was promoted to city manager when Greg Devereaux was hired by the county as its chief executive officer 22 months ago.

Clark will be the city’s first African American fire chief.

He has been a career firefighter, having started in the profession when he was 20 years old. He has served in every position within the department during the quarter of a century he has worked in Ontario.

Councilman Jim Bowman, himself a former Ontario fire chief, hailed Clark’s selection as a wise one that “will do the city well.”

Bowman said Clark is “well respected, knowledgeable and someone who can get the job done.”