Portland Fire Chief Mike Myers submitted his resignation Thursday, the day after his new boss, Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty, was sworn into office.

Myers’ resignation comes amid his push to reimagine Portland Fire & Rescue from top to bottom, efforts that earned him respect and praise in City Hall. He left for a personal reason, to join his wife who has moved to the Oregon coast, he and Hardesty said.

The idea behind Myers’ “Blueprint For Success” was to equip the city’s 700 firefighters to respond effectively to health emergencies such as drug overdoses and mental health crises, given that such calls are much more common than summonses to put out fires.

Hardesty said in a statement that she is sad to lose Myers' “leadership and friendship.”

“His vision for a vibrant city was exactly what we need and I am disappointed to not work on his plan together,” the statement said.

Myers, 51, chose to leave to relocate to the beach town of Gearhart, where his wife lives. He will begin a new job as the emergency manager for the city of Cannon Beach, 10 miles south of their coastal residence.

“I thank the employees of Portland Fire & Rescue for their hard work and support during my time here,” Myers said. “I love the coast and my wife has already moved there and it is my strong desire to join her.”

Mayor Ted Wheeler said in a statement that he asked Myers what the city could do to keep him but the chief’s decision was firm.

“I completely respect that," Wheeler said, also lauding Myers as “an outstanding and visionary leader.”

Alan Ferschweiler, the president of Portland’s firefighters union, said Myers' resignation “completely caught me off guard” and leaves him disappointed.

Myers is one of the better Portland fire chiefs in memory, Ferschweiler said, describing him as a man of integrity with a keen focus on details.

“He doesn’t have an ego and he didn’t care who gets credit for work. He just tried to move the city forward,” Ferschweiler said. “And he cared about the firefighters.”

Before becoming the Portland chief in 2016, Myers had retired from his job as the Las Vegas fire chief and took a job as fire chief in a small city in Missouri. He began his firefighting career in Las Vegas in 1986.

There were few if any signs of Myers’ impending resignation.

Myers posed for photos with Hardesty on Wednesday after her swearing in at City Hall. On Thursday the Fire Bureau posted a photo of the chief and commissioner on Twitter, showing Hardesty wearing a fire helmet and Myers standing by her side with a smile and a thumb’s up.

The photo was accompanied with the message “Welcome aboard, Commissioner Hardesty.”

-- Gordon R. Friedman

GFriedman@Oregonian.com