Mobile Fire-Rescue Department announced its first two promotions under a newly implemented advancement system designed to enhance diversity and efficiency throughout the department’s ranks, elevating two veteran district chiefs to deputy chief positions.
The two officers promoted, both district chiefs with more than four decades of combined experience at Mobile Fire-Rescue, now rank third in command within the department, behind only the fire chief and assistant fire chief. One of the newly promoted deputy chiefs, a licensed paramedic with more than 25 years at the department, most recently led the department’s Emergency Medical Services Division. He is a graduate of Leadership Mobile and has completed coursework in fire science administration at Bishop State Community College, along with an executive development program through a New Orleans university.
The second officer promoted to deputy chief, a registered Emergency Medical Technician-Intermediate with 17 years at the department, most recently oversaw the department’s Training Division. Before joining Mobile Fire-Rescue, he spent 13 years in the U.S. Navy and Naval Reserve, where he says his introduction to firefighting began. He holds a bachelor’s degree in fire science and a master’s degree in executive leadership, and has helped train more than 800 firefighters across the Southeast as a member of the Alabama State Fire College’s technical review committee.
Department officials said the new promotional system marks a shift away from a process that had been criticized for placing too much emphasis on college degrees when scoring candidates for advancement. Under the old system, officers who scored well on promotional exams could still lose out to colleagues who received automatic bonus points for holding a college degree, regardless of the score gap between candidates.
The changes at Mobile Fire-Rescue follow similar reforms at the Mobile Police Department, where 27 officers were promoted in late May under a new testing system developed by an outside research firm. Mobile’s police chief said at the time that he believed the revised process would help remove institutional barriers that had limited advancement opportunities for some officers in the past.
Fire department leadership said the promotions reflect a broader effort across Mobile’s public safety agencies to modernize how officers and firefighters are evaluated for leadership roles, with an emphasis on experience, training and demonstrated performance rather than academic credentials alone. Officials said they expect the new evaluation system to shape future rounds of promotions throughout the department in the coming years.