Fire Chief and Division Chiefs

Chief Ghio

August F. Ghio, Fire Chief

August (Augie) F. Ghio is a 31 year veteran of the Fire Service and is currently the Fire Chief for the San Miguel Fire Protection District in San Diego’s East County. His career includes 29 years with the City of San Diego serving as the City Office of Homeland Security Director and Assistant Fire Chief.  His experience includes serving as the Assistant Communications Officer, Hazardous Materials Team Coordinator, Office of Emergency Services Manager, Director of Support Services, President of San Diego Medical Services Enterprise, LLC, and Chairman of the San Diego Regional Homeland Security Technology Partnership.  Augie has also served as the President of the City of San Diego Chapter of the National Management Association. He currently serves as the President of the San Diego County Fire Districts’ Association and is the Vice-President of the San Diego County Fire Chiefs’ Association.  His education includes an Associate of Science in Fire Protection, B.A. in Business Administration and a Certificate in Fire Administration.

G Croucher

Division Chief Gary D. Croucher

Gary D. Croucher is a 23-year veteran of the Fire Service and is currently the Division Chief in charge of Administration for the San Miguel Consolidated Fire Protection District in San Diego’s East County. He first started in the Fire Service at age 14 as a Fire Explorer with the Orange County Fire Department, hired at age 18 as a Paid Call Firefighter and attended Orange County Fire Department’s 7th Academy in 1984.  He worked for 2 years for Scudders Ambulance prior to being hired by the California Department of Forestry (CDF) in 1986 as a Firefighter II.  In 1988 the CDF Schedule “A” contract consolidated with the Spring Valley Fire Department, forming San Miguel Consolidated Fire Protection District where he has served in all ranks, from Firefighter, Engineer, Captain, Battalion Chief and Division Chief.

 Gary has also served as the President of Southern Area Fire Equipment Research (SAFER). He currently serves as the President of the San Diego County Fire Chiefs Equipment Committee and Vice President of San Diego County Special Districts’ Association.  He is also actively involved as an elected official as President of the Otay Water District and Chairman of the San Diego County Water Authorities Imported Water Committee.

Gary lives within the District and is married with 2 children.

Division Chief Joseph B. Ranalli

Joseph is a 22 year veteran of the Fire Service and is currently the Operations Division Chief. Joseph’s responsibilities include managing the full service Motive Fleet section, administering logistics and supplies, support and maintenance of 8 fire stations and overseeing 81 fire suppression personnel. He has risen through the ranks and has a core philosophy of Servant Leadership. Joseph served as the Vice Chair of the Zone 4 Operations Rapid Intervention Crew Sub-Committee. He took the lead in developing the Zone 4 Firefighter R.I.C., Accountability, and Firefighter Distress Call policies and also helped develop and instruct the associated training. He currently serves on the Zone 4 Operations Committee, and as Chair of the San Miguel Equipment Committee. His education includes an Associate of Arts in Fire Technology

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Division Chief Steve Butcher

Steve Butcher is a 28 year veteran of the Fire Service and is currently the Division Chief in Training for the San Miguel Fire Protection District in San Diego’s East County. His career includes 10 years with the California Department of Forestry. His experience includes working as Battalion Chief in operations, 16 years as a Fire Captain where he also held the position of shift Training Officer, Engineer and Firefighter. Steve is currently a member of Southern California Incident Management Team One as a Division Supervisor. He has also served as the President of San Miguel Firefighter Local 1434 and was a member of the LAFCO task force for Fire Protection and Emergency Services. Steve resides in the District with his wife and two children and has another son who is studying at the University of Arizona.

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Division Chief Marsha L. Larsen

Marsha L. Larsen is the Division Chief of the Fire Prevention Bureau and serves as the Fire Marshal for the San Miguel Consolidated Fire Protection District. She has served in the Department since 1996 and was promoted to the position of Division Chief in 2006. Marsha holds degrees in Fire Science, Communication Arts, Construction Inspection Technology and a Certificate in Fire Engineering from the University of California San Diego. In conjunction with academic accomplishments, she also possesses Certifications from the International Code Council (ICC) as a Certified Fire Inspector, Certified Plans Examiner, Certified Building Inspector and Certified Housing and Property Maintenance Inspector. She has completed Office of the State Fire Marshal courses in Fire Prevention and is a Level Three – CA Fire Prevention Officer.

As an active participant in the development and maintenance of the County Consolidated Fire Codes and the California Fire Code Amendments via the Office of the State Fire Marshal, she has also provided professional services to assist the San Diego Burn Institute, is a Past President, San Diego County Fire Prevention Officers Chapter,  a member of the California Fire Prevention Officers Association and a member of ICC. In 1994-1995, she was a member of the Chula Vista Citizen Adversity Support Team (CAST) providing assistance to family members of victims of trauma and/or violent crimes.   

As a regional expert in Urban-Wildland Fire Prevention Interface.  Ms. Larsen has provided fire prevention expertise to members of the development sector, civic advisory groups, public sector entities and numerous print media outlet sources in the application of Urban-Wildland Fire Protection Engineering Standards.

L Villarreal

Leonard Villarreal, Public Information Officer

Leonard Villarreal took on the role of Public Information Officer with the San Miguel Fire District in April of 2007. This follows a 32 year career in the television news industry. All three decades have been in his home community of San Diego California. In the mid-seventies Leonard first started as a News Photographer/Editor, as part of his career plan he quickly advanced to position of Photographer/Reporter, and within months of that, he was promoted to a full time reporter at KGTV in San Diego. As his news gathering and presentation skills improved He was promoted to the position of Anchor/Reporter. Over the years Leonard has received numerous community awards, as well as industry recognition having been honored with several Emmys, Press club and RTNA awards. Leonard was also responsible for creating two of the most popular News franchise weekly segments in KGTV’s history; the 10Leadership Award and “Does it Work”. As part of the 10Leadership award program Leonard helped select and honor more than 800 San Diegans for their efforts in making their community a better place to live. As a part of the Leadership program he also planned and produced a Mini-Telethon that raised nearly $400,000 for an East County Medical clinic that provided care to the uninsured. With a news career spanning more that 30 years Leonard participated in the coverage of nearly every major news event in San Diego since the mid-seventies including the Crash of PSA flight 182, the San Ysidro massacre and the 2003 Wildfires. He has attended Mass with Pope John Paul, interviewed Mother Theresa, one-on-one and conducted interviews with residents of San Quentin’s Death row. Spent time with Presidents, Senators, Governors, Movie and Music stars as well as learning from San Diego’s homeless and the poorest of the poor in South America. His community based style of reporting as provoked positive change in his community and even within the darkest of situations his compassion allowed San Diego County residents to find a message of hope.