TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – The Michigan Association of Fire Chiefs (MAFC) has chosen their Fire Chief of the Year and it’s Grand Traverse County’s Patrick Parker. According to the Grand Traverse Metro Emergency Services Authority (GTMESA), he was honored with the award on Wednesday evening, April 12th in Novi at the MAFC Midwest Fire Rescue Expo. The award is the highest honor that the organization has.

Yahoo News reports that Oakland County’s Southfield Fire Department chief and president of the MAFC, Johnny Menisee, said, “It’s quite an honor to be the fire chief. But it’s another honor to be selected among your peers as the Fire Chief of the Year.”

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Menisee said that the selection process includes looking for someone who has dedicated their life to fire service and Parker was a perfect example of that so it was an easy choice to give him the award. Menisee said, ”He was a natural selection for the position. It was easy to write the opening (speech) about him, because it was just all the great things that he’s doing…He’s just selfless in his giving of himself.”

Menisee said about Parker, “I don’t think there’s anyone that doesn’t know him in the Michigan chiefs. He is just a very nice, strong, warm person that you want to be around.”

The GTMESA said in a statement that Chief Parker began in the fire service with Grand Traverse Metro Fire Department in 1983 and rose through the ranks to become Fire Chief in 2006. Chief Parker has experienced much in his almost 40 years of fire service, including participating in the ever-changing landscape of Metro Fire Department as it transformed from a volunteer department into a career department of full-time and part-time Firefighter/EMTs.

During his tenure as chief, the department created a Hazardous Materials Response Team and a Technical Rescue Team that consists of the rescue disciplines of ropes, search and rescue (water, land, ice), confined space, and trench. The department is currently working on collapse rescue response, as well.

Chief Parker is also a founding father of the Mutual Aid Box Alarm System (MABAS) Division 3701 which is a user-driven system designed to streamline the requesting and providing of emergency and fire services resources across Michigan for day-to-day mutual aid and for large-scale events such as major fires, train derailments, tornadoes, wildfires, domestic or foreign terrorism and other events that may overwhelm local resources.

In addition to being the fire chief in Grand Traverse County, Metro Fire Department officials say that Chief Parker is heavily involved locally in Grand Traverse County and holds positions on many boards including Red Cross of Northern Michigan, Rotary Club of Traverse City, Boy Scouts, Knights of Columbus, EMS Directors Association, Grand Traverse 9-1-1 Board of Directors, Grand Traverse Emergency Planning Team, and more.