Martin Appointed To Serve As Napa County Fire Chief

NAPA, CA — The Napa County Board of Supervisors and the Cal Fire Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit announced Tuesday that Jason Martin, a longtime local fire chief, has been appointed as Napa County’s fire chief effective Oct. 1.

Martin's appointment followed a competitive selection process and comes with a promotion to deputy chief of Cal Fire's Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit, the agencies said in a news release.

Through a cooperative fire protection agreement with Cal Fire, the Napa County Fire Department consists of seven career stations, nine volunteer fire stations, four battalion chiefs, 50 full-time firefighters, 46 seasonal firefighters, 200 volunteer firefighters, the Fire Marshal's Office, and numerous support staff.

Currently, Martin is assistant fire chief of the Napa County Fire Department and has been serving as the county's acting fire chief since earlier this month when former Napa County fire Chief Geoff Belyea accepted a position with American Canyon Fire Protection District.

"I have had the privilege of working in this County for over 26 years and I am incredibly appreciative of this appointment," Martin said. "I'm honored to continue serving the County in this new capacity."

Martin began his career with Cal Fire in 1988 and moved to Napa County in 1995 for a firefighting job. Martin has worked through several fire-department ranks across multiple areas and was assigned to incident management teams from 2007 until 2020.

"I’m pleased Napa County will continue to benefit from Chief Martin’s experienced, local leadership. On behalf of my colleagues, we would like to extend our congratulations on his appointment. We look forward to working with Chief Martin in his new role," said Alfredo Pedroza, chair of the Napa County Board of Supervisors.

In May 2019, Martin was promoted to assistant chief. In that role, Martin was responsible for updating the Napa County policy manual, as well as overseeing all fire operations for Napa County Fire Department.

"Jason has helped mitigate some of the County’s most challenging disasters and I’m confident his leadership will continue to be an asset to the County," said Shana Jones, chief of Cal Fire's Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit.