ConFire Chief Daryl Louder is Retiring

Bay City News Service

ConFire Chief Daryl Louder announced his retirement Monday after almost three years on the job.

In an email sent to fire district employees, the chief of the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District said he is retiring due to medical issues in his family, United Professional Firefighters of Contra Costa County Local 1230 President Vince Wells said.

Louder wrote in the email that he has family members on the East Coast with health problems "that require our closer attention and time. Louder, 58, recently put his Concord home on the market, the Contra Costa Times reported.

Wells said Louder will help in the hiring process for a new chief, and his last day will be on Oct. 31.

The chief's announcement comes after a turbulent year that saw the fire district shut three stations and drastically scale back hours at Clayton's only fire station due to budget shortfalls.

District officials had hoped voters last November would support a parcel tax measure meant to close the district's $17 million budget deficit and prevent the station closures, but the ballot measure failed.

Louder and other fire officials cited plummeting property tax revenue — the district's main source of income — coupled with rising pension and health care costs, as the source of the budget gap.

In the last couple of months, ConFire has been in talks with the Moraga-Orinda Fire District to work jointly on a plan to build a new fire station near the Orinda-Lafayette boundary.

The cash-strapped district spans 304 square miles in Antioch, Clayton, Concord, Lafayette, Martinez, Pittsburg, Pleasant Hill, Walnut Creek and a handful of unincorporated communities.  

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