Gary Curmode has served as Fire Chief of Sedgwick County Fire District #1
for the last thirteen years. He directs 142 paid personnel and a $15.3 million
budget. Chief Curmode supervises fire prevention, emergency medical service
delivery system, fleet maintenance, fire suppression, and public
education/fire investigation.
Chief Curmode was part of the original committee that formed the
Wichita-Sedgwick County Hazardous Materials Task Force in December 1981.
He was a hazmat technician until promoted to a high echelon position in the
fire service. Additionally, he has provided training to private
industry and fire departments in Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and
Texas in HAZWOPER, 29 CFR 1910.120.
Chief Curmode completed his Chief Fire Officer Designation through the
Commission on Chief Fire Officer Designation in April, 2001, served as a
Peer Reviewer for the program in June 2001, and enrolled his department in
the Commission on Fire Accreditation International Fall, 2000, to achieve
departmental accreditation. The department received accreditation
status in August 2003. The department is one of 119 internationally
accredited agencies and only one of two in the State of Kansas.
Chief Curmode’s professional background includes over 36 years of emergency
response to incidents in hazardous materials and fire suppression. Recently
he taught
Basic Concepts of Terrorism Response/Concepts to the Ft.
Worth, Texas, Fire Department. He is also an adjunct professor at the
National Fire Academy in Emmitsburg, Maryland.
His educational background includes an AA in Fire Science, a BA in Secondary
Education, and a double MA in Administration of Justice and Public
Administration. He completed the National Fire Academy's “Executive
Fire Officer” program in 1991.
He is a member of the National Fire Service Incident Management System
Consortium; Firefighter Safety Study Act Committee, USFA and the Web-Based
Internet Hazmat Operations, USFA. He is an active member of the
International Association of Fire Chiefs, the Missouri Valley Division of
Fire Chiefs, Kansas Association of Fire Chiefs, and the President of Kansas
Professional Fire Chiefs and Chair of the Kansas Fire Service Council. As a
peer assessor for fire departments, he has had 11 site visits and 8 of these
as team leader. Additionally, he is the Mentoring Chair of the Missouri
Valley and the NSEFO Mentoring Committee.
He has three children.
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