After being placed on administrative leave late last year, former acting chief of the Ukiah Valley Fire Authority Kirk Thomsen has returned to work in the position of captain. Thomsen had been serving as interim chief of the UVFA since mid-January 2017 following the abrupt retirement of former chief John Bartlett in late 2016. Thomsen was then placed on leave in mid-December of 2017 for undisclosed reasons. “I cannot comment on personnel matters,” Ukiah City Manager Sage Sangiacomo said when asked why Thomsen was not serving in his position. When asked if an investigation was being conducted, Sangiacomo said at the time he could “neither confirm nor deny” whether that was the case.