American Canyon’s assistant fire chief will leave the city in June, less than a year after he joined the American Canyon Fire Department.

Mark Nelson, who lives in Modesto, said American Canyon’s high cost of housing was the main factor in his decision to take the fire chief job in Visalia, a town in the heart of the San Joaquin Valley.

“We were able to reduce our home price and sell our home in three weeks,” Nelson said this week. “We will be moving to Visalia. Home prices there are significantly lower than here.”

Nelson’s last day in American Canyon is June 15, American Canyon Fire Chief Glen Weeks said.

“It’s definitely a loss for us,” Weeks said, adding he wishes Nelson the best of luck in his new job.

In the interim, a fire captain will take on some of Nelson’s duties, including attending planning meetings for new residential developments.

The fire department has begun the search for a replacement for an assistant fire chief, Weeks said. The positions pays between $115,752 and $127,608 a year.

Nelson was hired after Weeks became fire chief.

The American Canyon Fire Department’s annual budget is $3.9 million. The department, which includes 15 firefighters, responded to 1,200 incidents last year.

Nelson, a former fire chief in Rio Vista, commuted from Modesto. In his new position he will lead a department of 69 full-time employees and oversee a budget of $10.5 million. The department’s firefighters answered 11,000 calls for service in 2007. The salary ranges from $116,196 to $134,508 annually.

Nelson’s anticipated first day as fire chief in Visalia is June 16, Charlie Norman, Visalia Fire Department’s battalion chief wrote in an e-mail.

The median price for a house in Visalia, a city with more than 110,000 residents, ranges from $190,000 to $201,000, roughly half the cost of a new house in American Canyon, according to Trendgraphix, a real estate information firm.

American Canyon’s median price over the past 12 months fluctuated, from as high as $715,000 to as low as $400,000, according to Trendgraphix.