SLO’s new fire chief is a Cal Poly grad with nearly 20 years of experience
San Luis Obispo’s new fire chief is a Cal Poly graduate with nearly two decades of experience.
Todd Tuggle is replacing Keith Aggson as the head of the San Luis Obispo City Fire Department, according to a city news release.
Aggson announced in August that he was retiring after leading the agency for three years.
“It is a great honor and opportunity to lead such a dynamic group of professionals in a vibrant and growing community,” Tuggle said in the release. “I look forward to continuing the departments focus on skilled, progressive, compassionate service while expanding the department’s connectivity to our citizens and business community.”
As fire chief, Tuggle will lead about 60 full-time employees at the fire department and oversee the department’s $14 million budget, the news release said.
Tuggle earned a bachelor’s degree from Cal Poly before graduating from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey with a master’s degree in homeland security.
According to the release, Tuggle started his firefighting carrier at the Fresno Fire Department, working there for 17 years. He eventually served as that agency’s deputy chief of training and special operations.
Tuggle also worked with state incident management teams for more than 10 years on “various disasters throughout California,” the news release said.
In 2020, Tuggle and his wife, Jules, moved back to the Central Coast.
As the deputy chief and, later, chief of the Santa Maria Fire Department, he led the “development of the department’s first strategic plan” during the COVID-19 pandemic, the release said.
Tuggle was selected to lead the SLO City Fire Department “following a national search and rigorous evaluation process” that consisted of interviews with regional fire chiefs, community partners, regional city managers and current department staff, the release said.
As SLO fire chief, he’ll earn an annual base salary of $218,400 per year.
Tuggle’s first day on the job will be Dec. 5, four days before Aggson retires.
