From Fire Explorer to Fire Chief: How Jeff Hakola is Building Patterson's Future Fire Department

Patterson’s new fire chief, Jeff Hakola, has a career arc that reads like an inspiration playbook. Sworn in this week after more than three decades in fire service, Hakola started exactly where he wants today’s Patterson teenagers to start: as a 15-year-old Fire Explorer in Orange County. His journey shows what’s possible when you give young people real mentorship and a clear pathway into meaningful work. Now, as chief of a department operating on the west side of the Bay Area, he’s bringing that same philosophy to Patterson.

The department faces real pressures. With only six on-duty firefighters serving a growing community, staffing is the constant challenge. Competing against larger Bay Area agencies offering higher salaries makes recruitment tough, but Hakola isn’t just complaining about it—he’s building solutions. The department added three firefighters last year, a new ladder truck arrives in January, and plans for a third fire station are already in motion. More importantly, they launched a Fire Explorer program and secured approval for a firefighter trainee position. These moves signal that Patterson is thinking generationally about its fire service, not just plugging immediate gaps.

What makes Hakola’s leadership distinctive is his commitment to growing the department alongside the community. He’s not interested in solving problems in isolation from other city departments or without community input. For Patterson, a city experiencing growth spillover from the Bay Area, that collaborative approach could make the difference between a fire department that’s always playing catch-up and one that’s strategically positioned for the future. If you’ve got a teenager interested in first responder work, does your community have pathways like Patterson’s Fire Explorer program?