Paul Lepore is a shift Division Chief for a fire department in Southern California. In addition to managing the emergency responses for the City, his responsibilities include managing the EMS Division, the Emergency Operations Center (EOC), and the CERT program. Chief Lepore also develops the department’s promotional and entry-level examinations.
Prior to this position, Chief Lepore spent 23 years on the Long Beach Fire Department. He spent 5 years as a Battalion Chief working predominantly in the northern part of the city. He was also assigned as the Battalion Chief in charge of the EMS Division for two years. He feels very fortunate to have run some major incidents typical of a big city fire department, including working as a member of the Operations Section during the Paradise Gardens Apartments fire, the largest in the city for the past 25 years. Chief Lepore has also managed some challenging personnel issues during his tenure as a chief officer. He has written, developed and proctored numerous promotional examinations, and shares both his operational and administrative experience with others to help them achieve their promotional goals.
Chief Lepore entered the fire service as a civilian Paramedic for the Los Angeles City Fire Department. After completing his education at the Los Angeles County Paramedic Training Institute, Lepore worked in the high impact area of South Central, Los Angeles. He was hired by the Long Beach Fire Department and completed a 12-week academy. He spent the next two years working as a firefighter until he was promoted to firefighter/paramedic. Lepore was later promoted to Fire Captain, and eventually to Battalion Chief. He took an outside Division Chief promotional exam for a neighboring department, where he was hired in 2010.
