CAL FIRE recently announced the appointment of Chief George Huang to Unit Chief of the Santa Clara Unit, effective March 15, 2022. Under the City of Morgan Hill’s partnership with CAL FIRE, Chief George Huang will also serve as the Fire Chief for Morgan Hill Fire. Chief Jake Hess has served as the Morgan Hill Fire Chief for the past 3.5 years and has been promoted to the position of 2 Star Chief of Northern California overseeing several units in 22 counties and CAL FIRE Northern Region Administration in Santa Rosa.
Morgan Hill’s City Manager, Christina Turner, shared, “We are excited to have Chief Huang join our Morgan Hill Leadership Team and look forward to the continued excellent fire service under his leadership. While we are sad to see Chief Hess go, we are grateful that he continues to serve Morgan Hill and much of California in his new role.”
Chief Huang began his fire service career in 2002 with CAL FIRE as a Firefighter I in the San Luis Obispo (SLO) Unit. In 2005, he transferred to the Santa Clara Unit where he was assigned to Alma Helitack Base. In 2008, he accepted a Fire Apparatus Engineer position in San Luis Obispo and was assigned to the Parkhill Station. In 2010, he was promoted to Fire Apparatus Engineer and was assigned to Creston Station. In 2012, George was promoted to Fire Captain, assigned to Paso Robles Station. In 2013, George transferred to the Training Bureau, where he was the coordinator for Allan Hancock Community College Firefighter I Academies, Firefighter I Rehire Academies, SLO County Volunteer Firefighter Academies, and the CAL FIRE Basic Firefighter Academy.
In 2017, George promoted to Battalion Chief and was assigned to the Training Bureau where he managed both State and County training requirements. In 2019, he transferred to the North Coast Battalion, where he supervised and managed five fire stations including a Paramedic staffed station in the Los Osos Community Fire District, Estero Bay County Fire Station, Cambria Amador Fire Station, Cayucos Fire Station, and Morro Toro Volunteer Fire Station. In 2020, Chief Huang promoted to Assistant Chief of Administration in the Santa Clara Unit overseeing Alameda, Contra Costa, Santa Clara, Western San Joaquin, and Stanislaus counties.
Chief Huang served for 12 years on different Incident Management Teams as a qualified Type I Finance Section Chief, Type I Safety Officer, and most recently appointed as the Incident Commander for CAL FIRE Incident Management Team 1. George is also a Certified Registered State Fire Marshal (SFM) Instructor for multiple SFM courses. George holds an A.S. degree in Fire Science and an A.A. degree in General Studies from Mission College in Santa Clara.