San Francisco Fire Chief Jeanine Nicholson announced she will retire at the end of August due to “unforeseen medical issues.”

Nicholson, who has spent 30 years with the city’s Fire Department, was its first openly LGBTQ chief when Mayor London Breed chose her in 2019 to take over after the retirement of her predecessor, former chief Joanne Hayes-White.

“I am proud of the San Francisco Fire Department and the people that work day and night to protect our city and citizens. It has been a great privilege and honor to serve as your Fire Chief for the past 5 years,” Nicholson said Friday in a statement.

Breed said Nicholson “is retiring with a distinguished and decades-long record of public service” and “has shown extraordinary leadership and dedication to our great city and we are indebted to her for her service.”

More details about the chief’s medical issues were not released, but she is a breast cancer survivor and has been a proponent of efforts to prevent cancer among firefighters. During her career, Nicholson also suffered second-degree burns from a 2009 arson fire that injured five other firefighters.

Dan McMenamin is the managing editor at Bay City News, directing daily news coverage of the 12-county greater Bay Area. He has worked for BCN since 2008 and has been managing editor since 2014 after previously serving as BCN’s San Francisco bureau reporter. A UC Davis graduate, he came to BCN after working for a newspaper and nonprofit in the Davis area. He handles staffing, including coaching of our interns, day-to-day coverage decisions and management of the newswire.