Beverly Hills Deputy Fire Chief To Retire After 27 Years

BEVERLY HILLS, CA — Beverly Hills Fire Department Deputy Chief Joe Matsch retired from the department after a 27-year run.

Matsch worked his last day on Dec. 21. His position has been vacant since then as the department looks both internally and externally for an interim replacement, according to Chief Gregory Barton.

Matsch left as the department faces turmoil over the COVID-19 pandemic, with many firefighters speaking out against vaccine mandates. Two firefighters sued the city and Los Angeles County over the vaccine mandate, which required health care workers to be vaccinated, according to the Beverly Hills Courier.

The pandemic made Matsch's job harder and less enjoyable — making it harder, for example, to engage in the social interactions he loved so much. But it wasn't his impetus for leaving, Matsch said. Rather, he was motivated primarily by a long commute, long hours on the job and a desire to focus more on his family, he said.

Matsch never lost confidence throughout the pandemic that department personnel were providing COVID-19-safe service to the community by using personal protective equipment, screenings and self-monitoring, he said. Beverly Hills firefighters have a vaccination rate of 80 percent, similar to that of the Los Angeles Fire Department, based on numbers from December.

Matsch considered leaving for years as he grew tired of a three-hour round-trip commute and increasingly long days, he said. At the end, he was pulling 12- to 14-hour days, he said.

Matsch stepped into his role as deputy fire chief in 2018 and had wanted to spend three years in the administrative position. He was ready to leave in December 2020, but the pandemic significantly complicated his decision.

Matsch struggled to shake the feeling that he was quitting right when things had gotten difficult, so he stuck it out. But the COVID-19 finish line continued to move further away.

"I didn't want to leave under a dark cloud," he said. "I wanted COVID to be over. I wanted to be able to leave with blue skies and everything back to normal. So I decided to stay one more year."

But "things just stayed status quo, and COVID continued to hang on, and that same dilemma was there ... this year," he said, adding: "I struggled with that, because it's easy to quit in bad times. Strong people want to power through those difficult times and then leave when we have our heyday again."

Despite his fears of being perceived as a quitter, Matsch said his co-workers were supportive and understood his decision to leave.

Matsch left along with his wife, Myrna Matsch, who quit her job as customer service manager at Hobby Lobby in December. Matsch hoped to find a schedule more conducive to family time.

Matsch will miss the fire department community the most. Matsch felt a closeness to his fellow firefighters similar to what he experienced serving as a firefighter in the U.S. Air Force before he came to Beverly Hills.

"These are people I've grown up with, that I've trained closely with — that I've fought fire with," he said. "It's very much a brother/sisterhood of like-minded people that want to give back to the community. When you have people that share the same values, the same want to give back to the community, it's difficult to leave that."

In his administrative role, Matsch developed similar bonds with community members. The community showed him immense love and support in his departure, Matsch said.

"I can't say enough good about the community," he said, adding: "It's hard to leave Beverly Hills, it really is."

Leaving the department is not the end for Matsch. He felt he still has more to give, especially during the pandemic, and sees himself shifting into a different emergency services role. Matsch is not sure whether he will take on a local or national role.

"The training I got at Beverly Hills I'm hoping will continue to assist other communities moving forward. ... I've been entrusted with a lot of skills. I've been trained to a fairly high level," Matsch said. He added: "I just owe a tremendous amount of gratitude to this community."

Matsch hoped to see a replacement that shares the innovative spirit of the department. He referenced programs such as the department's newly formed Nurse Practitioner Unit, which helps the city act proactively with preventative care.

"When I got hired at Beverly Hills, I thought it would be like any other typical fire department. I was so wrong," Matsch said. "It's been a blessing for 27 years, which made it that much more difficult to leave. But it was time."