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NEW PB FIRE CHIEF TO BE INTRODUCED

By Ray King/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Sunday, October 25, 2009 12:03 AM CDT

The city of Pine Bluff has a new chief of the fire and emergency services department.

Dannie C. Smith

At a press conference at 3 p.m., Monday at city hall, Mayor Carl A. Redus Jr. will introduce Dannie C. Smith, 48, as the new fire chief, according to a press release from Fire and Emergency Services Public Information Officer Lt. Shauwn Howell.

Smith recently retired as fire chief of the Sugar Land, Texas Fire Department, a position he held for five-and-a-half years and was responsible for all fire department operations, including emergency services, fire prevention, professional development and training, community preparedness and outreach, and emergency management.

Howell said among Smith’s accomplishments while serving as fire chief at Sugar Land were improving the city’s ISO rating from 3 to 2; opening Fire Station 6; working with surrounding communities to create the Eastside Fort Bend County Hazardous Materials Response Team; implementing a city-wide Emergency Medical Technician Intermediate/Paramedic program; and creating the first Citizen’s Fire Academy and Community Emergency Response Team.

Smith was named the 2008 Texas Fire Chief’s Association Fire Chief of the Year.

He has spent more than 27 years in the fire service, 21 of those with the Houston Fire Department, where he advanced in rank from a firefighter and emergency medical technician to incident safety officer, field training officer, captain and assistant chief.

“My philosophy at this point is we no longer see the fire service as we did in the past,” Smith said in biographical information provided by the fire department. “If you have individuals joining the fire service today to fight fires, they’re joining the wrong profession.”

While with the Houston Fire Department, he was recognized twice for valor, once for pulling an unconscious man from a burning building on Nov. 1, 1993, and for rescuing a six-year-old girl from the second story of a burning apartment complex on Oct. .26, 1995.

He has also served as an Advisory Board member for Houston Community College and the Texas A&M Fire Training programs; and currently serves as an instructor for Houston Community College and the Executive Development Institute at Clarke University in Atlanta.

A native of Houston, Texas, Smith has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Le Tourneay University, is married and has two adult children and one grandchild.

He will replace Interim Chief James A. Brown, who has been serving as chief since being named by Redus to replace former Interim Chief Howard “Skipper” Hipp on May 5.

Hipp had been elevated to the Interim Chief’s spot after former Chief Don Horton resigned in April to accept a position as fire chief in Portsmouth, Va. Horton had been chief of the department since Nov. 30, 2007.

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