After a multi-week search that included public interviews as well as time spent with the agency’s staff, the Verde Valley Fire District announced on Wednesday, March 10, that Danny Johnson, formerly of the Daisy Mountain Fire Department, had been selected as the district’s new fire chief.
“It has been a long and arduous process to complete during the COVID pandemic,” VVFD Board Chairman Ken Bishop said in a press release. “We believe Mr. Johnson will be a great fit as our new Fire Chief and we look forward to working with him.”
Johnson will replace retiring Fire Chief Joe Moore, who took over after a long career fighting fires in the Verde Valley in November of 2018.
“I have known Danny Johnson for several years working with him at the Arizona Fire District Association and Arizona Fire Chiefs Association,” Chief Moore said. “He is a highly motivated individual with great common sense. He is willing to listen and collaborate with other to achieve the best result for all. I am excited to see where he and the staff will take Verde Valley Fire District in the future. We are blessed to have his leadership.”
At Daisy Mountain, a fire district that stretches from Anthem to Black Canyon City south of the Verde Valley, Johnson worked his way up from reserve firefighter up to just below the fire chief. He retired several years ago, and took a position with a construction company that builds fire stations, keeping him involved with the field.
Johnson said when he applied that he is interested in the Verde Valley for its potential for growth, having come from a department that went through the same transition, and that his experience fighting fires in a nearby area with the same climate and landscape makes him suited for the position.
“Because I’ve been in Arizona my whole life, and all my time with the Arizona fire service, I have relationships and connections with fire chiefs all over the state,” Johnson said when he was interviewing for the job. “It’s a resource that I can draw on, and there’s mentors and there’s people that have done it that are a phone call, so if I need some advice or I need some wisdom or I need somebody to say, ‘This is what we’re dealing with,’ I’ve got that resource. I can pick up a phone, I can bring that resource from the whole Arizona fire service.”
Johnson comes to the Verde Valley with his wife and one of his two sons, who is a high school junior. His elder son is in college in Idaho.
