Fresno drops interim title, appoints Alcorn as new fire chief. Here’s why he was chosen
William “Billy” Alcorn, who joined the Fresno Fire Department as deputy chief in 2021, has been appointed as the city’s new fire chief after serving in an interim capacity since March.
Alcorn’s appointment was announced Friday afternoon by City Manager Georgeanne White and Mayor Jerry Dyer. Alcorn succeeds Kerri Donis, who served as chief for nine years before retiring.
As chief, Alcorn will oversee a department that has grown significantly over the past two years, increasing daily on-duty staffing from 81 firefighters several years ago to the current level of 103 firefighters on duty daily.
“Today we have more firefighters on duty than we have in our 146-year history,” Alcorn said as he was introduced. The department has a budget of about $120 million for 2023-24, with total budgeted staffing of 428 positions, including 375 sworn firefighters, captains and chiefs.
When Alcorn was appointed interim chief in March, White had announced that the city planned to conduct a nationwide search for a permanent replacement for Donis. But while Alcorn did not initially seek the permanent role, White and Dyer said it soon became obvious that Alcorn was the right person.
“Over the past five months I have been able to watch Billy Alcorn lead the fire department as the interim fire chief,” White said. “I was able to see how he was able to handle various challenges, especially the budget process, which is no easy feat.”
Dyer recalled a budget meeting in which he and White grilled Alcorn over details of the department’s operations and budget, at which the interim chief provided ready answers and even challenged some of the administration’s thinking. Dyer said he recognized at that time that Alcorn could fill the role permanently. “I one hundred percent believe Billy Alcorn is the right person at the right time to be the fire chief of Fresno,” Dyer said.
Prior to joining the Fresno Fire Department in 2021, Alcorn served as fire chief in the city of Merced. Alcorn, a 2002 graduate of Merced High School, was hired as a paid-call firefighter with the Merced County Fire Department in 2003 and then became a firefighter with the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, now known as Cal Fire. He joined the Merced Fire Department in 2004, rising through the ranks from firefighter to engineer to captain, then to battalion chief and deputy chief before his appointment as fire chief in 2019. He was Merced’s firefighter of the year in 2009.
Alcorn has a bachelor’s degree in fire administration and is a graduate of the executive fire officer program at the National Fire Academy.
Dyer cited Alcorn’s previous experience as chief in Merced as another factor in his favor, as he served in the interim role “with no training wheels.”
“Billy has a clue; he already understands” the role of fire chief, Dyer said.
Alcorn said that when he arrived in Fresno in 2021, his goal was to eventually become fire chief. But as he settled into the deputy chief role overseeing operations, “I was good, I was content,” he said. “I was ready to lead the battalion chiefs, lead the field, and I set aside the fire chief goal.”
Upon his appointment as interim chief, “I was still ready to prepare a great thing to pass on” to the next chief,” he added. But as weeks and months passed, and conversations occurred with the administration, “I just thought it was the right thing” to apply.
Alcorn said his top priority is filling vacancies in the firefighting ranks. “We just graduated a class of 20 people” from firefighter training, he said, “and we have a recruitment open now for 26 firefighters.”
White said Alcorn’s base pay will be $230,000 per year plus benefits.
