The Billings community said farewell Wednesday to Fire Chief Pepper Valdez, who is leaving after 26 years in the Billings Fire Department.
“The mood has been somber, to say the least,” Valdez said.
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Valdez has accepted a new position as fire chief of Mountain View Fire Rescue in Colorado. On Tuesday, the city announced that Executive Assistant Fire Chief Matt Hoppel will take over as interim chief.
While Valdez said he's ready for a new chapter, leaving Montana is an emotional transition, as he’s worked with some people in the city for decades and led as fire chief for four years.
“Good people. We've done a lot together. I know a lot of their families, their children, and (it’s) tough to leave that behind,” he said.
Valdez started at the Billings Fire Department in 1999 as a firefighter.
He moved through the ranks as an engineer, captain, battalion chief, assistant fire chief and finally, fire chief.
Now, several community members said goodbye at a gathering at the downtown Fire Station 1.
“I hope after he goes down there and does his tour of service that he migrates back to Billings. He's just a great individual. He's done phenomenal things for the city of Billings, the Billings Fire Department,” said Yellowstone County Commissioner Mark Morse.
“I'm very sad to see him go. He's a very, very dear friend,” said Billings Police Chief Rich St. John. “(We) worked extremely well together between our two departments, accomplished a lot of things to get public safety going the right direction here the last few years.”
Valdez developed fire safety education in Billings, helping fire-related calls to drop to 1%.
The department has also seen rises in unhoused substance abuse and mental health crises, which started spiking during the COVID-19 pandemic. Valdez has helped equip the fire station to respond to those calls through establishing the Crisis Response Team.
“If you call, no matter what the call is for, we'll be there and we'll improvise to help you solve your problem,” Valdez said, “and this is just one more thing that we're getting into [is] crisis response and getting more involved in the emergency medical portion of it.”
While leaving Billings is an emotional transition for Valdez, he is confident in the leadership that will continue to serve the city.
“I need the community to know that they're being left in excellent hands,” he said.
Until the city decides on who the new fire chief is, Hoppel will fill in as the interim chief for the department.
“My overall goal is, one, take care of our people because when we take care of our people, we're able to accomplish what we provide to the public. And I want to provide top-notch service to the public and everything that they deserve for what they invest in us,” said Hoppel.
Valdez predicts the city will choose a new permanent fire chief by this summer.
