Names in the News: May 28, 2023

PETER BURKE was announced as the new president of the Fire Chiefs Association of Massachusetts (FCAM) on May 17. Burke is the chief of the Hyannis (MA) Fire Department, a position he has held since July 2017. He is also a 16-year fire instructor at the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy and previously served as deputy chief of the Barnstable Fire District and lieutenant with the Seekonk Fire Department. Burke was sworn in by his father Peter, retired Swansea Fire Department chief. He succeeds Jim Vuona, chief of the Shrewsbury Fire Department, who served as the FCAM’s president for the past year.

SCOTT CUNNINGHAM was sworn in as the new chief of the Suffield (CT) Fire Department (SFD) on May 21. Cunningham is a 36-year volunteer member of and 15-year captain with the Enfield (CT) Fire Department, where he started his fire career when he joined the day after his 18th birthday in 1986. Eight years later, he joined the Hartford (CT) Fire Department as a career firefighter, working there until 2017, when he retired as a captain.

DARIUS LIVINGSTON was promoted to the position of battalion chief with Polk County (FL) Fire Rescue. He is one of the first graduates from the county’s Proactive Diversity Recruitment Training Program who has reached this rank within the organization. Livingston is assigned to Professional Standards—Office of Medical Direction & Training. He has an associate degree, a state paramedic license, an NREMT-P, a firefighter certificate of compliance with the state of Florida, and a Blue Card Incident Command certification; is a state of Florida-certified incident safety officer; and is a VFIS emergency driver training instructor.

JOSUHA FARMER will take over as the new chief of the Reidsville (NC) Fire Department (RFD) on July 1. Farmer has been the RFD’s assistant chief/fire marshal since December 2020. Farmer has been working for the RFD since 2014 after doing volunteer work with the station during his senior year of high school. He was then promoted to administrative fire captain in June 2017. Farmer is a graduate of the Chief Officer Executive Development Program and has earned 17 North Carolina state certifications with the fire, police, and emergency medical services.

RICK ROE retired as chief of the Clive (IA) Fire Department (CFD) after a 34-year career with the department, the past 25 years spent in the top spot. Roe, a native of Humeston, joined the CFD part time in 1989. During his tenure, he responded to major flooding in 2015 and 2018, built partnerships with Urbandale to lower response times, oversaw construction of the Clive Public Safety Center, improved training, and implemented new technologies. Roe will be replaced by incoming CFD Chief Clay Garcia, who started his career there in 2009 as a firefighter/paramedic and later served as its assistant chief of operations and fire marshal.