“Murrieta Fire Chief Paul Christman celebrates last day on job with friends, officials” |
| Murrieta Fire Chief Paul Christman celebrates last day on job with friends, officials Posted: 19 Jul 2010 05:29 PM PDT "And I think to myself, it's a wonderful world," sang Rickey Nero, in a raspy, yet angelic voice, while she played the piano to an intimate gathering of friends at the end of an emotional luncheon. Just before noon on Thursday, a restaurant in Murrieta was packed with fire chiefs from all over Southern California, local firefighters and city officials who wanted to make Murrieta Fire Chief Paul Christman's last day at work special. Christman is retiring after leading the Murrieta Fire Department for four years. It was a bittersweet day, as he made the decision to retire because he wants to spend more time with his two boys Rick and Greg, who still live with him. Christman is the father of five. His son Greg summed up what the day and decision were all about. "It makes me feel great that I get to have him and I'm so blessed that I can spend the rest of the time and feel sad for all the people that won't get to spend time with him, because he's a really terrific person," he said. His son, Rick put together a video presentation that highlighted his 36-year career in the fire service. "He's laid back and really cool, we get to do a lot of stuff, and we go camping every now and then but now that he's retiring we'll have time to go camping more and go throw the ball outside," said Rick. The images in the presentation also reiterated the description, "dirty-faced firefighter" given of him by his former boss and friend, Brea Fire Chief Al Nero. "He has a deep concern for the firefighters that work with him, Paul cares about their wellbeing, he's what is called a firefighter's chief," Nero explained. "Well, today, for us it marks the end of a chapter in the fire department's book of stories. Chief Christman's four years here with us were great, he changed a lot for us operationally ... and he brought his vast experience and knowledge and imparted that on all of us, and for a young department that was taking on the steps with all the growth in the city and protecting all of the wild land urban interface areas we do protect, that was one of his specialties... so that's one of the things we're definitely going to miss about Chief," said engineer and spokes person for the department Matt Corelli. Battalion Chief Mike Jennings, who retired this year, after 24 years with the Murrieta Fire Department, offers Christman some sage advice. "Slow down and enjoy life. He's a 'Type A' personality, like me, so I know it'll be tough," said Jennings. During the four short years he's credited with carrying through Armentrout's dream of Station 4, opened Station 5, was instrumental in housing a state funded, California Emergency Response Management CAL Ema type 3 engine in Murrieta, modernizing the department and for more than a year he's been the Riverside County Advertisement Firefighter Barry Robertson, who has been with the MFD for 21 years and will also be retiring this year has seen his share of leaders. He says he knew that that filling the position of their beloved Chief Armentrout, was not going to be easy, but thinks Christman "did a good job of it". "I've had some dealings with him, some good, some, not so good, being my fault, and he was always fair and got more than fair treatment when I was making mistakes, I shouldn't have. He's been a good chief and I appreciate his friendship and will continue that after retirement," said Robertson. It's no secret the department is struggling in this economy, and the moral in Christman's department was shaken when 3 full-time employees were laid off. Firefighters are working without a contract and are currently in the middle of negotiations and Christman has filed a claim seeking a three-month severance, an incentive that has been given to other city employees. "I know the city attorney is looking into the claim and I can't talk about that," said Randon Lane, Murrieta Mayor Pro-Tem and seemed to be sincere when adding, "he brought fire station five to fruition, he was good at what he did, he was a good fire chief and I wish him the best and the city wishes him the best with all of his future endeavors." Despite these ongoing issues, the mood was celebratory and the outpouring of love, support and compliments were worthy of a dignitary. When I asked his former Chief, Nero, who also served as presenter at the luncheon to describe Christman in one word, he said, "Honorable." "Chief Christman, Paul, you're a consummate professional … you do your work with such grace and such honor and integrity, that's it has been a pleasure to know you and work with you over the past eight years," said Nero. But to Christman the most meaningful compliments came from his two boys. "We're happy that he's with us, and we just love him so much and we're very proud of him;" said Rick. "You're the best dad in the world and I couldn't be more proud of him, and he's my dad and I'm so happy that we can all spend time together," said Greg. Chief Christman, didn't want to address the reports that he's leaving because of the city's monetary concerns but he did want to give a message to the residents of the city he's served for four years. "It's been an honor to be your fire chief Murrieta, I can't think of a population of people that are more giving, that have bigger hearts, and it has been great to ride the wave of your support and have the honorable job as your fire chief and I've enjoyed every minute of it," said Christman. Five Filters featured article: Headshot - Propaganda, State Religion and the Attack On the Gaza Peace Flotilla. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
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