Mark Lawson was scheduled to be sworn in as the new fire chief of the Sparks Fire Department on Dec. 12, but that won’t be happening now as Lawson resigned from the position on Monday.
“I am here with terrible bad horrible news,” said city manager Neil Krutz in a video message to Sparks Fire Department employees Monday. “This morning I met with Chief Lawson and asked for his resignation and he granted it,” Krutz said. “He’s no longer employed by the city of Sparks.”
Krutz said the city recently learned that Lawson is facing serious criminal charges that will be filed soon. Those charges haven’t been announced yet.
“Unfortunately, given the severity of the charges that are coming down, I felt it was appropriate to part ways,” he said in the video that was posted to YouTube.
Lawson hadn’t been sworn in yet, but his first day was Nov. 29 after the city appointed him Nov. 28 at the Sparks City Council meeting.
Lawson was the city’s first externally recruited fire chief in Sparks’ history and has 32 years of fire suppression experience, and a background in both fire prevention and law enforcement with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Lawson, who was born and raised in Sparks, was excited for the opportunity to return to his hometown as the head of the department.
“I truly consider this the single highest honor and most definitely the pinnacle in my career to serve as the City of Sparks’ new fire chief, especially in my hometown where I was born and raised,” Lawson said when he was hired.
According to reports, the city has not made a decision on its new fire chief moving forward.
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