Ventura County Fire Chief nears 10 years of service
By Daniel Wolowicz camarillo@theacorn.com

BILL SPARKES/Acorn Newspapers ACHIEVEMENT-- In June, Ventura County Fire Chief Bob Roper will have held his post for 10 years. Implementation of the Ventura County Firefighter Paramedics program, he says, is his greatest accomplishment.

The first time Bob Roper thought about joining the Ventura County Fire Department, his house was being saved by a team of firefighters.

The engine crew from Fire Station 22 in Meiners Oaks wasn't battling a blaze, they were cleaning up after a broken water pipe.

That was 30 years ago and Roper, a recently married Ventura native, had just settled into his new home with his wife, Debbie, when the pipe broke. Not exactly sure what to do about the water that poured into the house, Roper called the fire department for help and was impressed by their professionalism.

At the time, the 21-year-old was working as an auto mechanic and wrestling with whether to enroll in medical school.

Daunted by the idea of starting a family while in med school, Roper opted instead to become a volunteer firefighter, working out of Fire Station 22 alongside the same crew that helped clean up his flooded home.

Three years later, Roper graduated from the Fire Academy and became a rookie with the Ventura County Fire Department.

In June, Roper will celebrate his 10th anniversary as fire chief.

Roper's decade-long tenure as chief, one of the longest in the department's 79-year history, spanned the terrorist attacks of 9/ 11, the deadly La Conchita landslide and the 2006 Day fire that scorched more than 160,000 acres.

The 2005 La Conchita landslide, Roper said, was a low point in his career. Following two weeks of torrential rain in January, a large section of the mountain that looms over the seaside village collapsed, destroying 36 homes and killing 10 people.

"That was probably the largest life-loss situation I was on," Roper, 51, said. "That was something I'll never forget."

For many Americans, the Twin Towers attacks brought to the forefront the dangers firefighters face. Roper said 9/11 forced a number of departments, including Ventura County's, to reassess how firefighters approach major emergencies.

"The only problem with 9/11 is that there's a general public perception that firefighters come to work every day to give up their lives," Roper said. "That is not what we do . . . the one thing that we've been doing since 9/11 is teaching our people to spend more time calculating what the risks are and to make a conscious decision to either go into the situation or withdraw. We try to profess the philosophy that our people do not give up their lives for a house that's burning with no lives inside."

Benefits of technology

He said the greatest changes impacting the fire department over the past decade have come in the way of new technology.

"Whether it was when I started with the department or as fire chief, technology has vastly changed every aspect of our job," Roper said.

The department opened its state-of-the-art Ventura County Fire Communication Center earlier this year. The $15-million facility uses satellite technology to link the department's 31 fire stations and its fleet of trucks, cutting response times.

The chief said advancements in firetrucks, protective gear and medical equipment have helped save the lives not only of county residents but of county firefighters as well. Roper said that during his years as chief, he has never lost a firefighter in the line of duty.

He said he's most proud of the addition of firefighter/paramedic units throughout the county. He said the full-time paramedic squads are responsible for faster response times and a decrease in fatalities.

The larger picture

Roper manages a 500-person workforce that protects more than 1,800 square miles of land, including 476,000 residents in six cities.

Because the department, one of Southern California's largest, spans the county, Roper relies on his command staff and firefighters at each of the department's stations to keep the organization running smoothly.

"With the size of our department, I cannot micromanage and run every aspect of it," Roper said.

"We train our people to make independent decisions. There's no way we can create a policy that handles every situation that happens out there. So we really rely on our people to evaluate the situation and do a risk assessment and then make a decision on how to handle the emergency."

Roper has helped balance the department's annual budget--about $105 million--which, because of changes in retirement and healthcare packages, had operated at a deficit from 2001 to 2004.

The department's budget is overseen and approved by the Ventura County Board of Supervisors, which Roper said "acts as my board of directors."

"He is definitely one of my favorite people at the county. He has great communication skills and is very proactive and incredibly committed to making our county fire-safe," Ventura County Supervisor Linda Parks said.

The chief said a good working relationship between his department and the board has given county firefighters what they need to answer the 30,000 service calls they receive each year.

Roper said that number will continue to rise as the county's population increases. He added that the department will be challenged by an increase in housing density as new developments are limited by open space initiatives.

"The biggest thing is figuring out how to deliver our services to a county that has different growth patterns," Roper said.

"The West County isn't growing. The East County is growing, but with the SOAR initiatives what we're having is higher population densities in areas."

Roper said the department's history of success is due in large part to those who answer the call to duty each day.

"We are very reliant on the people within the organization that make or break this place," Roper said.

"They're the ones who deliver the customer service."

Roper and his wife live in Ojai. They have two adult daughters.