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San Ramon Valley's fire department will soon be under new command, after Fire Board President Mattheew Stamey announced the appointment of Paige Meyer as the district's chief Wednesday evening.

Meyer has spent the past 15 years acting as fire chief for the city of Vallejo and will join San Ramon Valley Fire on March 18. Chief Meyer fills the Fire Chief position which became vacant when Chief Richard Price retired in December 2012.

"The Fire Board reviewed and interviewed numerous outstanding candidates to fill the role of Fire Chief," Stamey said. "Our goal was to select a fire chief with an unyielding understanding of fire and emergency services along with the communication and leadership skills necessary to lead this organization."

Meyer joins SRV Fire with over 20 years of fire service experience, beginning as a volunteer firefighter and later as a public safety officer in Sunnyvale. In 1998 he was hired in Vallejo and has held the positions of firefighter, captain, battalion chief and fire chief. He holds a bachelor of arts degree in public administration from California State University at Chico and an associate of science degree in fire science from Butte College.

"Chief Meyer possesses a unique combination of skills," said Stamey. "He has proven he can lead during economically challenging times and has demonstrated his ability to focus an organization around a core mission in order to best serve the community. We selected an exceptional leader for an exceptional organization."

Chief Price resigned to run the PulsePoint Foundation after nearly seven years with the San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District. The District appointed Jack Barton, former assistant chief of operations, as interim fire chief in December.

The Fire District, which provides fire, rescue and emergency medical services to 170,000 people in Danville, San Ramon, Alamo, Blackhawk, Diablo, the Tassajara Valley and the southern portion of Morgan Territory.

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