Steve Krentel, whose leadership at a Covington-area fire district has been under assault since last fall, will retire as of Sept. 1, he told the St. Tammany Fire Protection District 12 board of commissioners in a letter Thursday.
Krentel, whose wife was killed nearly a year ago, said in a phone interview that he had always planned to retire as soon as he was eligible to do so.
His departure is not the result of efforts by some other firefighters to oust him, he said, but he added that the "headaches" at work are making it easier to leave. Krentel was demoted from his position as fire chief by the board last month. A week later, the board announced that they had found merit in two of a long list of complaints lodged by firefighter Tom Williamson.