Director of community affairs in DC is fire chief from Georgia

It has been a position that has, by my count, had seven different people in it since Ronnie Few became chief near the turn of the century. A number of people have handled the job since Chief Dennis Rubin took over the DC Fire & EMS Department in April, 2007 (although the tenure of one was extremely brief). Now STATter 911 has learned former Riverdale, GA Fire Chief Billy D. Hayes is poised to come aboard as the director of community affairs and outreach. We are told he will start on June 30.

FireRescue1.com, where Chief Hayes has been a columnist on safety issues, partially spilled the beans with this mention at the end of the most recent column by Chief Hayes:

Billy D. Hayes served as Chief of Fire Services for the City of Riverdale, Ga., for the past eight years, before leaving the post this month for a new position at the D.C. Fire Department.

Here is the rest of Chief Hayes’ biography from the website:

Previously he served with the Georgia Insurance & Safety Fire Commissioners Office and with the City of Morrow Fire Department. In addition, he serves as the Region IV Advocate for the Everyone Goes Home® campaign through the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation and President of the Metro Atlanta Fire Chiefs Association. He is a graduate of Georgia Military College and the National Fire Academy’s Executive Fire Officer Program. Chief Hayes frequently writes and speaks on the topics of firefighter safety and fire prevention.

According to sources, Alan Etter will remain as the department’s PIO.