Fire Chief Leonard Thompson been in the Fire Service for over 38 years, the majority with Los Angeles Fire Department and has gained a significant amount experience, education and training, both operationally and administratively. He is currently the Fire Chief of both the Rancho Adobe Fire District and the Petaluma Fire Department. He is a Fire Commissioner for the City of San Rafael and created the San Rafael Fire Foundation and is their current treasurer. He lives in San Rafael with his wife Carol for the past nine years.
The Chief has been involved or commanded a variety of emergencies, including single family dwellings, apartments/hotels, commercial structures, high rise, swift water incidents, petroleum fires, multi-casualty incidents, and urban search and rescue responses. Additionally he has responded to brush and vegetation fires, where he was Strike Team Leader or Incident Commander. This operational experience has provided him with the background to critically evaluate the operational readiness of Rancho Adobe and Petaluma Fire Departments.
Chief Thompson brings with him an enormous amount of experience from the Los Angeles Fire Department over the course of a thirty-five year career there. His experience, education and training have included a variety of positions including a Dispatcher/Resource Controller, Internal Affairs Investigator, Instructor at the Fire Academy and Public Information Officer for Media/Public Relations. As the Planning Chief, he worked with department budgets, as well as developed plans for the future direction and expansion of the Department. As Chief Deputy of Operations and supervising Deputy Chiefs, he oversaw the Emergency Services Bureau, which controlled all 107 Fire Stations in the City and the Emergency Medical Services Division and Dispatch and Communications Center. Chief Thompson is currently a Fire Commissioner for the City of San Rafael. As Commissioner, he established the nonprofit San Rafael Fire Foundation and sits on its Board. The goal of the Foundation is to raise funds for the San Rafael Fire Department that was not provided by the budget. The Foundation was instrumental in providing the Department with a new fireboat in the previous year. The last three years, he has been the Fire Chief for the Petaluma Fire Department and for the last year Chief for the Rancho Adobe Fire District and has accepted all the challenges associated with that position. His operational and administrative background and experience over the course of his career has served him well and allows a unique perspective on the needs of the County’s emergency services.
To Contact Chief Thompson, calling (707) 795-6011 or send an email to (redacted)