Within a fortnight, two of San Bernardino County’s fire departments hired new fire chiefs earlier this month.
In Upland, Rick Mayhew was handed the reins to that city’s fire department on February 3.
Mayhew, a 31-year firefighting veteran, had been a division chief in upscale San Marino prior to his hiring. He was previously a battalion chief for the South Pasadena Fire Department.
Upland had been looking to bring Mayhew in as chief for more than two months, but delayed doing so as city manager Stephen Dunn studied the feasibility of outsourcing the department, potentially to the city of Ontario or the county of San Bernardino, or merging with the city of Montclair for the provision of fire protection.
Dunn, who has been charged with reducing the city’s operational costs, rejected those options after the city’s firefighters’ union agreed to a contract concession that transferred the cost of covering the firefighters’ pension contributions from the city to the firefighters themselves.
The savings from that contract change will allow Upland to keep its firefighting force in house. For more than 18 months, the fire chief’s slot had gone unfilled, and the department was overseen by individuals, including the police chief, serving in the capacity of interim fire chief.
The Chino Valley Fire District, which serves the cities of Chino and Chino Hills, on February 13 hired Paul Segalla to serve as its new  chief.
Segalla had been the fire chief with West Covina since 2008, and previously was fire chief in Lockpart Township, Illinois, fire captain with the Berkeley Fire Department, fire lieutenant in Aurora, Illinois and a firefighter and deputy chief with the Downers Grove Fire Department in Illinois.
In Upland, Mayhew will be paid a base salary and add-ons of $170,698 with benefits of $71,692 for a total annual compensation of $242,390.
In Chino Valley, Segalla will be paid an annual salary of $188,326. The district did not release information with regard to his benefit package.