Stockton Fire Chief Erik Newman is one of three candidates being considered to replace the fire chief in the City by the Bay, according to The San Francisco Chronicle.
The San Francisco Fire Commission has submitted Newman’s name to Mayor London Breed, along with the city’s Deputy Chief of Administration, Jeanine Nicholson, and Fire Battalion Chief Michael Thompson, the Chronicle reported.
Newman said on Monday he expects to learn a decision from San Francisco sometime this week.
“This was a very difficult decision, because I consider myself a loyal person,” Newman said of applying for the SF post. “But being given the opportunity to lead a department in the city where I was born and raised has been a lifelong dream.”
In October, San Francisco Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White announced she would be stepping down from the post after 15 years and four months.
Hayes-White was the first woman to lead the SFFD, and the city’s longest serving chief.