Newly appointed Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Millage Peaks, 57, spent the last five years as an operations chief executive officer, and part of his duties was working with officials at Los Angeles International Airport to guard against acts of terrorism.

By coincidence, he was appointed fire chief by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Sept. 11, after serving in an interim capacity in the days following the Aug. 30 retirement of his predecessor, Douglas L. Barry.

The L.A. City Council confirmed Peaks’ nomination three days later.

Barry was the first African-American to lead the department and Peaks is the second. But he doesn’t believe his selection was motivated by race.

“I would hope that I was selected because the mayor felt I was qualified,” said Peaks, adding there were 15 to 20 fire officials who also had chief qualifications.

But as a 33-year veteran of the Los Angeles Fire Department, Peaks acknowledges that “without a doubt there were acts of racism” in the agency.

It was Peaks who oversaw the investigation of charges by former firefighter Tennie Pierce, who later sued the city on charges of harassment after co-workers slipped dog food into his spaghetti during a meal at a firehouse.

Peaks praised Barry for putting in place a series of programs to counter acts of racism and harassment against minorities. “We have implemented creation of a professional standard of values and a program to oversee firefighter conduct throughout the department, sort of like an internal affairs board.

“We have updated our human relations training and have adopted the mayor’s policy of zero tolerance for harassment,” Peaks said, adding, “I intend to further those programs. We have a very diverse fire department and we expect it to get more diverse. It’s our plan to mirror the makeup of the community.”

But the most immediate challenge is the city’s budget crunch, which has resulted in a plan to place 15 fire engines and nine ambulances off-duty each day on a rotating basis. All stations remain fully staffed.

“Our challenge is to keep up the level of service with fewer resources. So far there have been no negative effects [excessive fire damage], although the program has lowered morale,” Peaks said. “I have come up with a business plan so we can operate more efficiently.”

Peaks said the department saves $110,000 a day in salaries from the rotation program, and is on its way to saving $39 million a year. “We are doing it,” he said, “but there is a certain amount of risk involved.”

He noted that the department is successfully protecting residents in an area with several million people in 460 square miles, with just 3,600 firefighters and about 400 civilian support staff.

Peaks said his goal is to retain that number and possibly begin two or three classes next year to train about 150 recruits. Those recruits are needed to replace the large number of firefighters who joined the department in the 1970s and are now retiring after 30 years of service.

Besides structural fires in the city, the department also takes part in fighting wildfires outside the city limits. The department helped battle the Station Fire last summer, successfully protecting structures in the San Fernando Valley communities of Tujunga, Porter Ranch and Northridge in the city’s northern area.

Fire officials are keeping an eye on that area for possible mudslides in rainy weather.

Peaks is the third generation in his family to have the name “Millage,” which concerns taxes. “It’s a reminder of slavery, which is a tax on people,” he explains.

Born in Berkeley, Peaks was raised in Southern California and graduated from El Camino Community College, where he studied chemistry and earned an associates degree. He went on to Cal State Dominguez Hills, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology.

He joined the Los Angeles Fire Department as a firefighter in January 1976 and quickly rose in the ranks, earning the rank of Captain 1 in 1984 and Captain 2 in 1987.

In 1992, Peaks was promoted to lead Battalion 3 in South L.A., where he oversaw six stations. In 1994 he was given a special assignment as an employee relations officer and took part in labor negotiations.

Former Fire Chief William Bamattre named Peaks chief of staff in 1995, and in 1996 he took command of Battalion 18, supervising six fire stations in West Los Angeles.

In 2004, Peaks was promoted to operations chief executive officer, where he worked on the department’s multimillion dollar budgets.

Most recently he served as battalion chief, overseeing fire stations at Los Angeles International Airport, Westchester, Venice and Mar Vista.

In what spare time he has, he enjoys running and working on his classic car, a 1970 Chevrolet El Camino.

Married and the father of four adult children, Peaks said his promotion to chief has “changed out life. My wife, Anne, keeps asking me when we are going to take those walks along the beach.”

But he has no plans to retire at this time.

“I promised Mayor Villaraigosa I would stay at least until he finished his term in three and-a-half years.”

However, he could stay longer.

“I enjoy being the chief,” said Peaks. “There is no greater honor than being in charge of the greatest fire department in the world. We are pretty good at what we do.”