PASADENA : Retired Salt Lake City Fire Chief Given Interim Post
The retired fire chief of Salt Lake City was selected Wednesday to head the Pasadena Fire Department while the city searches for a permanent replacement for dismissed Chief Kaya Pekerol.
Peter O. Pederson, who retired in 1989 after 36 years of fire service, including seven as the Utah city’s chief, was selected after an intensive search of available retired fire chiefs, said Pasadena City Manager Philip A. Hawkey.
Pekerol, chief for the last 14 years, was fired Monday, nine months after he went to the City Council for a pay raise over Hawkey’s head. The chief was placed on a series of paid administrative and medical leaves and sued Hawkey for libel last month for saying that one of those leaves was for performance issues. After the Altadena fire in 1993, his firefighters gave him a vote of no confidence.
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