Pittsburgh fire chief named emergency management coordinator

Pittsburgh Fire Chief Darryl Jones has been named the city’s emergency management coordinator.

He will remain the city’s fire chief, a position he’s held since 2007. In the new, additional role, he will supervise the Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security.

Jones said he will be required “to develop and publish and revise emergency operations plans (and) hazard-specific plans” and coordinate all of the city’s public safety bureaus during an emergency situation or a major planned event, like the city’s annual marathon.

He said he also hopes to get an incident management team up and running to ensure proper experts are in place for major emergency incidents.

Jones said he’s bringing real-world experience to the role, having responded to major incidents ranging from natural disasters to the covid-19 pandemic. He also helped to plan the city’s public safety efforts when the G-20 summit visited the city in 2009.

“I’ve been training and educating myself on this for a long time,” said Jones, who has 35 years of experience in emergency services.

The new position does not come with a pay increase.