UCLA names veteran firefighter to lead UCLA Fire

Few professions deliver emotional highs and lows as intensely as the fire service. Over the course of his 30-plus-year career, Steve McNaughten, UCLA's new lead campus fire marshal, has protected landmarks such as the Getty Museum and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, helped save lives on land and water, delivered six babies and comforted families in moments of devastating loss.

"I've seen the best and I've seen the worst," said McNaughten, who spent years as a firefighter with the city of Oxnard before rising through the ranks to become battalion chief and fire marshal. Most recently, he served at UC San Francisco as a designated campus fire marshal. "University campuses can have some interesting challenges when it comes to fire prevention, but overall, they are special places to serve, and I'm proud to be here."

At UCLA, McNaughten leads a team of fire safety professionals primarily responsible for fire prevention and related life safety efforts for the campus. He taught fire technology at Oxnard College and EMT courses at Ventura Community College for more than a decade and has led classes for the American Red Cross and the Office of the State Fire Marshal. As the senior authority for fire and life safety across all UCLA-owned or managed campus properties, McNaughten oversees institution-wide fire protocols, emergency response, construction plan reviews, fire code enforcement, prevention initiatives and investigative operations. His counterpart in UCLA Health is Ricardo "Rico" Barboza.

Housed within UCLA Environment, Health & Safety, UCLA Fire operates differently from a traditional municipal fire department, he says. While city departments provide 24-hour service and have a large focus on frontline emergency response, UCLA Fire functions as a California state fire authority on all aspects of fire safety. Its mission is to identify hazards and mitigate risks before emergencies occur. Emergencies reported between 6 a.m. and midnight are handled by UCLA Fire's initial response unit. Fires beyond the incipient phase - the earliest stage, when flames are small and smoldering - or incidents occurring after hours are managed by the Los Angeles Fire Department.

Fire prevention and safety training

Education and readiness are other core components of UCLA Fire's work. The department provides prevention and safety training and injury prevention modules tailored to laboratory personnel, welders and other specific hazards at UCLA. In addition to fire safety, hotwork training and permit training through WorkSafe, it also offers courses on residential safety and fire extinguisher classes for work and home.

"It's important that people know how to prevent fire and what to do in the event of a fire or other emergency," McNaughten said. "Things are going to happen - it's inevitable - so it's important to know how to minimize impact."

One major prevention effort is a collaboration among UCLA Fire, Events and Transportation, Housing and Hospitality, and Student Affairs Office of Residential Life to ensure students, faculty and staff register electric personal mobility devices, including e-scooters and e-bikes, in compliance with draft UCLA Policy 813: Personal Mobility Devices (PMDs), which requires UL-certification and registration for devices on campus by Nov. 20. The policy is in final stages of review and will be fully executed by Events and Transportation once complete. UCLA community members can get a head start by registering their devices in advance of the fall deadline.

"Underwriter Laboratories, also known as UL, standards reduce the risk of these devices causing fires," McNaughten said. "Lithium-ion fires escalate quickly and violently. I know firefighters who have not come back to work due to injuries caused by them."

Failure to comply with this policy may result in fines and/or confiscation of devices that do not meet UL standards.

Tackling fast-moving fires

Concerns about fast-moving fires aren't theoretical for McNaughten. Since 2017, he has been part of California Interagency Incident Management Team 2, responding to major fires across the western United States, including New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California, Oregon and Washington. "In the past decade, I've been on at least half of the top 10 biggest fires in our state's history," he said, citing strike teams he led during the Thomas, Carr, Dixie, LNU Lightning Complex and Woolsey fires, as well as in Napa Valley and Santa Clarita.

He also recalls a tall-ship rescue off the California coast, where he and other responders saved eight people from a vessel that had run aground.

"My dad called from Oklahoma the next day and said, 'Hey, I saw you on the news.' I said, 'What do you mean?' He said, 'I saw you on Good Morning America pulling people out of the boat,'" McNaughten said. "That was more than enough for me. I never thought my dad - especially out of state - would ever see what I did. It was amazing."

Moments like that rescue, he said, remind him why he chose the fire service - and why he continues to serve: "There's excitement, there's camaraderie, there's service to your community. I just can't imagine spending my life doing anything else."