.jpg "Dan Jones photo")
Fire Chief, Retired
Chief Dan Leadership
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Dan Jones entered the fire service in February 1974 and served in a number of positions including Firefighter, Paramedic, Company Officer, Training Officer, EMS Chief, Deputy Chief and retired as a Fire Chief in 2015. Jones served for over 16 years in the Pinellas Park, Florida Fire Department before relocating to Chapel Hill, North Carolina in 1990 to become Fire Chief. While in Florida he also served 5 years as Commander of the multi-agency Pinellas County Hazardous Materials Team responding to 23 jurisdictions in the Tampa Bay area. He also served as Vice-President and negotiating chair for Local 2193 of the IAFF. Upon his retirement, Jones was the longest serving municipal fire chief in the State of North Carolina.
Chief Jones has served on a variety of committees, councils and boards at the local, state and national levels. Jones is the former Editor-in-Chief of National Fire & Rescue Magazine, which for ten years served a nationwide circulation of community sized fire departments. He is Past-President for the International Society of Fire Service Instructors. He serves on the National Advisory Council of Fire 20/20, a group advocating for diversity in the Fire Service. He served on the President’s FEMA/USFA Blue Ribbon Agency Review Panel in 1998 and served as first Chairman for the NFPA Standards Committee #610 on Motorsports Venue Safety, and although not chair, still serves on NFPA 610. He is a past member of the National Board on Fire Service Professional Qualifications Committee and served on the NFPA Standards 1041, Instructor Qualifications Committee. Jones currently serves on the Board of Directors of Common Voices, a fire safety advocacy group and the Board of Directors of South Orange Rescue Squad, a volunteer rescue and EMS agency in NC.
He was Florida Fire Instructor of the Year in 1981 and the American Fire Sprinkler Association named him Fire Service Person of the Year in 1997. In 2000 he was awarded the International Fire Chiefs Association President’s Award. He was a co-recipient of the 2004 Goodmon Award for Regional Leadership in the Triangle Region of North Carolina. He is a Knight Member of the National Order of Life Safety Servants for successfully getting fire safety legislation passed. Jones has received commendations from the NC Jaycee UNC Burn Center, U.S. Congressman David Price, the NFPA, the ISFSI and the NC State Fire Marshal. Jones is also a recipient of the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, the highest civilian honor awarded by the Governor of North Carolina.
Chief Jones has written numerous articles for trade journals and is a co-author of the fire service textbook Managing People (pub. 1987). He is currently a special on-air commentator for CNN Headline News Network on breaking fire and rescue stories. He is a frequent emergency services conference speaker and is recognized throughout the fire service as an authority in the field of leadership, management, campus housing fire safety and motorsports fire-rescue. He is a guest lecturer at the University of North Carolina and has taught in twenty-nine states, Canada, England, Germany, Botswana and Scotland. Jones has also served on numerous assessment and selection processes for fire officers and fire chiefs.
Chief Jones attended St. Petersburg College, Alamance Community College, the National Fire Academy, the National Staff & Command program at the University of Maryland, and the Institute of Government at the University of North Carolina. He completed the Public Executives Leadership Academy at UNC-IOG in 2007. Jones has held up to twelve emergency services technical certifications. He currently resides in Chapel Hill with his wife of 39 years in a home they built with fire sprinklers. They have a married daughter and a grandson.
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Thursday, August 25, 2022
4:00 PM – 5:00 PM