The Long Beach Fire Department is facing big issues: homelessness, a younger firefighting force and Downtown high rises popping up like spring flowers. To lead them through it all is Fire Chief Xavier Espino, recently appointed in October.
Espino is a 33-year veteran of the department, climbing the ladder from firefighter to medic to fire captain to battalion chief to assistant chief.
The difference between his first few jobs at the station to his jobs in command are like the difference between a sprint—with instant gratification—and a marathon, he said.
“You’re just chugging away for 26 miles and when you get to that finish line, it feels good, you get that same bump, but you look over your shoulder and you go, ‘Oh yeah, I finished this one, but I started another marathon about mid-way and now I have to finish that one,'” Espino said. “It just doesn’t stop. It is gratifying; it just comes a bit slower.”
That gratification in a job is one of the reasons Espino wanted to become a firefighter. For years he watched his dad, who was a captain for the Los Angeles County Fire Department.