"Once I get my office organized, I'll feel much better," he said.

Parker is taking over for Capt. Gordon Duncan, who ran the Saratoga Fire District for the last three years and oversaw the department's integration with the Santa Clara County Fire Department. Duncan has passed the baton to Parker and retired with his wife to Oak Grove, outside Sacramento, to be nearer to his family.

Parker is not new to Saratoga. "I've worked for Santa Clara County Fire for 24 years now," Parker said. "I worked for San Bruno Fire Department for a short time prior to that." His various roles before coming to the Saratoga Fire Department include two years as a training captain, 10 years as a truck captain, and for the last three years he was a battalion chief at Santa Clara County Fire headquarters.

Parker spent his teenage years in Saratoga and graduated from Lynbrook High School. "When I was in high school, for career week someone from the fire department gave a presentation and it was pretty interesting." That initial interest led to a degree in fire science from Mission College and then a life of fighting fires around the Bay Area. Parker now commutes to Saratoga from Scotts Valley, where he lives with his wife and three of his five daughters. Two daughters have left home but still live in the area.

Because of the fire department's recent reorganization, Parker's role as battalion chief differs somewhat from that of his predecessor. Where Duncan was the fire chief of the Saratoga Fire Department and reported to the Saratoga Fire Commissioners, an elected three-member board, Parker as a battalion chief reports to Santa Clara County Fire Department Chief Ben Lopes. "The only thing we've done is take the management side and contracted it to county fire," Duncan explained.

As Parker settles into his new job, he will begin the process of evaluating the workings of the merger between Santa Clara County Fire and the Saratoga Fire Department. The current agreement is for the county to manage the Saratoga Fire Department for the next three years, and in 2008, if the merger proves satisfactory to everyone involved, a decision will be made to contract with the Santa Clara County Fire Department or else weigh other options.

"This is the time to get in here and see how it works," Parker said. "My initial goals are to get to know the personnel better and increase my knowledge of the area. The ongoing goal is to see how we can integrate Saratoga's operation with county fire to benefit both agencies. It's not a one-way street by any means."

Duncan's only advice for his replacement is to be patient while adjusting to the new position. "He pretty much knows what he needs to do," Duncan said. "I think to me the highlight of my career was to be accepted by the community the way I was. They were very good to me. They made my job easy."

Is Parker looking forward to being the battalion chief in the town he grew up in? "You bet," he said. "It's going to be an interesting and exciting process the next two or three years.