The Speaker

A 25 year member of the Buffalo Fire Department, Garnell W. Whitfield Jr has served as Deputy Commissioner of Emergency Services (EMS), which oversees all first aid and EMS calls in the Department. As the Department's Chief Fire Administrator from 1998 to 2004, Whitfield served as liaison between Civil Service and the New York State Police and Fire Retirement System. In January of this year, he was appointed Interim Commissioner of Fire by Mayor Brown and continue to serve in that capacity today. A front-line Firefighter, Deputy Commissioner Whitfield has served at Engine 37, Engine 31, and Engine 33.

He is currently pursuing a degree in Emergency Management and is a member of Phi Theta Kappa.

The Workshop

As responders, one of our greatest challenges is to mitigate the effects of or the occurrence of disasters within our community. We, as professionals, do a great job of responding to the needs of our communities in times of crisis or disaster... however, we have a long way to go in recognizing our responsibility and the opportunity to prevent or lessen the effects of these occurrences on persons within our communities.

Through education, training , collaborative and community outreach initiatives we have the greatest opportunity to ensure the safety of the public which we are called to serve.