Plano City Manager Bruce D. Glasscock announced on Monday Brian Crawford, currently the Assistant Chief Administrative Officer of Shreveport, Louisiana has been named Plano’s new Fire Chief. He was selected from three finalists who also included Dennis Rubin, former Fire Chief in Washington, DC and Atlanta, as well as Robert Isbell, current fire chief in Midland and also currently serving as President of the Texas Fire Chief’s Association. Glasscock described the decision as “incredibly difficult with three exceptionally well qualified finalists, any one of which are capable of leading almost any fire department in the nation.”
As Assistant Chief Administrative Officer for Shreveport, Crawford oversees a $500 million operating budget. Crawford has been serving in Shreveport for 28 years, starting as a firefighter and working his way up to Fire Chief, before being promoted to Assistant Chief Administrative Officer. As Fire Chief, Crawford was responsible for 22 fire stations and over 600 personnel. He also has extensive emergency management experience with direct involvement in a variety of major events including hurricanes Katrina, Gustav, and Ike, as well as serving as Commander of the USAR Louisiana Task Force 1 operations in Tuscaloosa, Alabama following the F4 tornado in 2011. He was also asked to participate in the Charleston, South Carolina Post Incident Review Team following the tragedy in which nine firefighters lost their lives.
Crawford is active in community and volunteer activities including the local Salvation Army, the Shreveport/Bossier City Rescue Mission and the Northwest Louisiana Red Cross. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Organizational Management and a Masters in Organizational Psychology and is a graduate of the National Fire Academy Executive Fire Officer program as well as the Harvard University Senior Executives in State and Local Government Program.
When asked what drew him to the Plano position, Crawford said that Plano has “A clear commitment to excellence and investment in Plano Fire Rescue by its citizens, elected and appointed officials, as well as the leadership and members of the fire department.” He went on to note that “In fire service circles Plano is considered an exceptionally well developed, disciplined, and professional department and its reputation and that of its former and current leaders precede it.”
City Manager Bruce Glasscock described Crawford as “an exceptional leader who had impressed everyone he came into contact with during what was an incredibly rigorous selection process.” SGR Executive Search identified 48 qualified candidates who were interested in the position from 21 different states. Before the three finalists were selected they had completed a comprehensive questionnaire; participated in online interviews; had legal/civil/criminal background checks conducted on them; had comprehensive media searches conducted; and completed two psychometric assessments as well as had extensive reference checks conducted.
On Wednesday of last week the three finalists toured the city including site visits to several fire stations. On Thursday they began the day with small group interviews with three panels of 13 Plano firefighters who had been selected by their peers to participate in the interviews. Following these early morning interviews the finalists interviewed with three additional employee panels comprised of administrative and support staff, Captains and Lieutenants, Battalion Chiefs and Assistant Chiefs. Following this process the finalists interviewed with Deputy City Managers Lashon Ross and Frank Turner as well as several peer department heads. The day concluded with each finalists participating in a one-on-one interview with the City Manager. Assistant City Manager Lashon Ross, who oversees Public Safety and other departments for the city, expressed enthusiasm for the selection of Chief Crawford and indicated that she felt he was “exactly the right leader to help us take the Plano Fire Department to the next level.” Ross indicated that while all interview panels were impressed with all three finalists as eminently qualified to lead a national pacesetter fire department like Plano,
it was clear that Crawford was “an exceptional leader who was the right fit for Plano at this point in our history.”
Crawford is expected to take over the reins of the department on Dec. 3.
