Calaveras fire district rehires Piccinini as Fire Chief

JOE PICCININI

He’s baaaaack!

Joe Piccinini was re-instated late last week as chief of the Central Calaveras Fire and Protection District (CCFRPD) after a job offer he sought in Sacramento apparently fell through.

ThePineTree.net, an on-line news service in Calaveras County, is now reporting that the district’s board of directors met in closed session for three hours on Thursday, Feb. 10, and afterwards voted 3-2 to hire Piccinini back as Fire chief.

“We had letters from everyone saying nothing but good things about the Chief. The community really likes him and feels he is doing a wonderful job,” said Bill Schmiett, chair of the district’s governing board.

Schmiett went on to say that when Chief Piccinini was hired by the CCFRPD, “he was extremely forthright about his previous employment in Anderson and produced documentation refuting the most serious allegations made by the AFPD.”

The Calaveras district hired a background investigator with explicit instructions to delve into the (Anderson Fire Protection District) situation and her investigation confirmed Chief Piccinini’s version as well as documenting his 30 years of progressively responsible service to the Tulsa, Oklahoma Fire Department where he retired as a Division Chief.”