Fairfax County’s fire chief announced his retirement Friday, a little more than a week after county officials said they would investigate allegations that the department had failed to curb sexual harassment.
Richard R. Bowers Jr. has received high marks during his five-year tenure for the department’s firefighting work, but was dogged by complaints and a handful of lawsuits claiming that women were mistreated in the ranks. Bowers’s last day will be April 30.
The chief declined to comment, but county officials said Bowers offered to retire after a meeting this week with the county executive, who expressed frustration by the Board of Supervisors with the pace of progress in changing the culture of the department.
Still, Sharon Bulova (D), the chairwoman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, praised Bowers’s work.