To: Boulder Mountain Fire Protection District Residents
From: Robert Loveman, President, BMFPD Board of Directors
Subject: Retirement Announcement
With the start of the new year, Boulder Mountain Fire Protection District (BMFPD) residents should be aware of the changes that will occur during the coming year. The most significant is that Fire Chief John Benson has announced his intention to retire at the end of 2025. The “Chief,” for those who have known John over the past 22 years, is and has been fiercely committed to serving and protecting District residents and has provided exceptional medical and emergency response services District-wide and beyond. As John enters retirement, he leaves behind a highly respected organization of professional and volunteer firefighters and emergency medical technicians recognized locally, statewide, and nationally.
Chief Benson’s leadership has helped protect our communities during wildfires, flooding, adverse weather, and high-wind events. His knowledge, expertise, and experience has helped transform Boulder Mountain Fire (BMF) and our neighboring fire agencies into modern, collaborative, and more effective organizations. Mutual and automatic aid agreements now leverage resources across fire agencies in Boulder County, improving response times and reducing the risk of major catastrophic events. More recently, Chief Benson secured a large grant to fund implementation of an upgrade to our handheld radio communication devices that will allow greater range, connectivity, and interoperability among our responders and with our neighboring fire agencies. BMF fire mitigation services are having a large impact in reducing wildfire risk in the District and is the largest fire mitigation group in Boulder County and possibly the state.
The Board of Directors wishes Chief Benson the best of possible worlds as he moves on to the next stage of his life with his wife, Becky. We also want to thank Becky for the sacrifices she has had to make over the past decades when John was away on fire dispatch, at trainings, or out all night patrolling our roadways looking for problems.
In early January 2025, the Board released a vacancy announcement (accessible here) for the position of BMFPD Fire Chief. Our intention is to identify a highly qualified individual to assume the role of Fire Chief upon Chief Benson’s departure. It is anticipated that an employment offer will be tendered in the spring of 2025. During the remainder of the year, Chief Benson will maintain his full array of roles and responsibilities as Fire Chief while helping transition BMF to new leadership. We expect other changes to staff positions and assignments though our emergency services will remain fully operational.
Please contact me at rloveman47@gmail.com if you have questions or concerns.
