Fire Chief Erin Janssens Will Retire in April

Janssens was appointed chief of the notoriously clannish fire bureau in 2012 by then-City Commissioner Randy Leonard.

Portland Fire & Rescue Chief Erin Janssens has announced her retirement after three years in the top job.

"After over 31 years in the Fire Service, nearly 28 of those with Portland Fire & Rescue, I'm pleased to announce my decision to retire this coming April," Janssens wrote in an email to firefighters. "This gives me time to finalize a few projects and provides Commissioner [Dan] Saltzman time to identify Portland's next Fire Chief."

Janssens was appointed chief of the notoriously clannish fire bureau in 2012 by then-City Commissioner Randy Leonard.

Her three years at the helm of Portland Fire & Rescue have been rocky, marred by an assistant fire marshal telling a downtown sex club how it could ignore potential fire-code violations, and Janssens' own grabbing of a subordinate in a threatening manner during a meeting.

Janssens, the bureau's first female chief, sent out the message below to her staff today:

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