Former Sugar Land Fire Chief Dannie Smith has been named Chief of the Fire and Emergency Services Department for the City of Pine Bluff, Ark.
Pine Bluff Mayor Carl A. Redus, Jr., made the announcement at a Monday press conference.
Smith will receive an annual salary of $79,049, according to the city.
Smith abruptly resigned his position as Sugar Land’s fire chief in the days immediately following the landfall of Hurricane Ike. The city made no announcement of Smith’s departure and only confirmed he had “resigned” Sept. 15 after being contacted by FortBendNow.
At the time, city spokesman Doug Adolph said Smith’s resignation was a personnel matter and the city could not comment further on the circumstances or reason for the fire chief’s sudden departure.
Two sources close to the city, however, said Smith “blew up” over an undisclosed dispute involving the emergency operations center. Both sources asked that their identities remain confidential because neither was authorized to discuss the incident or Smith’s departure.
Smith served as Sugar Land’s fire chief for about three years following a 24-year career with the Houston Fire Department.
Attempts to reach Smith following his resignation from the Sugar Land job were unsuccessful; however, in accepting the Pine Bluff job, he characterized his departure as a “retirement.”
“It was my choice to leave,” Smith told Pine Bluff media representatives at the press conference. “I reached a point where I decided it was time to move on.”
Since that time, he has held positions on fire training advisory boards for both Houston Community College and Texas A&M.
Pine Bluff is the seventh largest city in Arkansas with an estimated population of more than 50,000 residents. It is located in southeastern Arkansas and is home to The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and the Pine Bluff Arsenal, a major site for the demolition of chemical weapons.
