By Khalida Sarwari
A fireman with 23 years of experience is Santa Clara County’s new fire chief.
Kenneth Kehmna, deputy fire chief, will replace Chief Kenneth Waldvogel, who retired at the end of last year. Kehmna will begin as fire chief Monday.
He has served as deputy fire chief since 2007, first in charge of operations, where he managed the four department battalions and the fire investigation division. Since 2009 Kehmna has been in charge of training.
His resume includes battalion chief, training captain and fire captain with the Santa Clara County Fire Department.
He will continue to serve on the State Training and Education Advisory Committee, which provides policy review for the state fire marshal and final review of all state fire training courses.
Kehmna’s career began in 1987 as a firefighter with the Campbell Fire Department.
The Santa Clara County Fire Department serves the communities of Campbell, Cupertino, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, Morgan Hill and Saratoga.