New Oceanside fire chief: Oceanside Fire Department appoints David Parsons as new chief

Dave Parson, new Oceanside fire chief (Credit: Oceanside Fire Department) (Oceanside Fire Department)

Posted: Jun 21, 2022 / 06:31 PM PDT

Updated: Jun 21, 2022 / 06:33 PM PDT

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OCEANSIDE (CNS) – The city of Oceanside announced Tuesday that it has chosen its new fire chief, who is set to take over late next month.

David Parsons’ appointment to head the Oceanside Fire Department, San Diego County’s third largest, will be effective July 30, according to a statement from the city. He takes over for Fire Chief Rick Robinson, who is set to retire following six years as the North County city’s fire chief.

Parsons, the Division Chief of Community Risk Reduction, has served in a firefighting capacity for 27 years, 21 of which were in Oceanside, according to the city.

Parsons previously served as the department’s acting fire chief and acting deputy fire chief, and served as an Oceanside fire captain for 12 years. He has also served as an incident commander and was involved in a federal incident management team to wildfire deployments across the country.