Office of the Fire Chief
The goal of the Office of the Fire Chief is to provide sound leadership through communication, cooperation, and regional collaboration to meet the agency's strategic plans. The Fire Chief directly supervises the Deputy Chief of Operations, Deputy Chief of Support Services, and Staff Battalion Chief of EMS/Safety Unit. The Office of the Fire Chief includes the Executive Officer to the Fire Chief, the EEO/Diversity Officer, and the Public Information Officer.
The Role of the Fire Chief
The Fire Chief organizes and supervises all activities of the Fire Department to protect life and property including maintenance, management of fire suppression, prevention, equipment, physical facilities, and Emergency Medical Services (EMS). The Fire Chief is responsible for the management and administration of the Department; budget development and management; the continued development of the Department in terms of service delivery capacity and capability; and the supervision of the Deputy Chief's, Battalion Chiefs, Administrative Assistant, and Firefighters. The Fire Chief shall work cooperatively with the City Administrator and others as delegated by the Mayor.
Chief Creecy
The step-son of a Fire Lieutenant and now a 27-year veteran, Robert Creecy rose through the ranks of his hometown Fire Department to become Fire Chief in 2005 during a tumultuous change of local government in Richmond, the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Chief Creecy leads a metro-sized Department, staffed by 413 sworn and 15 non-sworn personnel, that has operated under a "Total Quint" Model imposed to meet a 50-firefighter reduction in force in 1997.
Before joining RFD, he earned a liberal arts degree at Virginia Commonwealth University (B.A. English '80). After graduation, he taught high school English on Tangier Island on Virginia's Chesapeake Bay and was compelled to join the Tangier Volunteer Fire Department after a co-worker experienced a devastating house fire that challenged the few Firefighters available.
In June of 1982, he began his professional career with the Richmond Fire Department. Over the next five years he served as a Firefighter first with Engine 22 and later with Engine 12. During that time received both Rookie and Firefighter of the Year awards and was a founding member of the Dive Team. From May 1987 to June 1998, he advanced through the ranks of Lieutenant, Captain and Battalion Chief and then spent five years commanding the "C" Platoon of the City's western district before serving as special project manager and assistant to the Fire Chief on temporary assignment for two years.
On May 2, 2005 he was tapped to be the Interim Fire Chief by Mayor L. Douglas Wilder and appointed into the permanent position on July 8th. In 2006, he was selected to attend VCU's Public Safety Institute and received a post-graduate certificate through the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Policy, was awarded one of eight annual Fire Executive Fellowships at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and has been working toward a Masters in Public Administration at VCU since becoming Fire Chief.
He is married to his college sweetheart, Nancy Trexler Creecy, and they reside in the City's Museum District where they have raised two wonderful sons, Austin and Matthew. They enjoy the company of family and friends, a new grandbaby, occasional travel, and spending time at their little place on Totuskey Creek in Virginia's Northern Neck.
