Full Name
Richard Heard
Job Title
Assistant Fire Chief
Company
Atlanta Fire Department
Speaker Bio
Assistant Chief Richard Heard (ret.) served as a member of the Atlanta Fire Rescue Department for 30 years until his retirement in April 2021. He began his career as a Firefighter/EMT and progressed through multiple ranks serving in both field operations and administrative assignments.

As a Lieutenant and Captain assigned to the Training Division, Chief Heard was responsible for the training and preparation of 20 recruit classes for reassignment to the field operations division. He also actively participated in numerous departmental initiatives including strategic planning workgroups, various internal and external committees, and specification design of AFRD's structural firefighting gear (PPE). Additionally, he taught numerous classes at the Georgia Public Safety Training Center and throughout the State of Georgia. As a Battalion Chief, he was responsible for seven fire stations and supervised approximately 55 personnel in each of two different areas of the city comprised of residential, commercial, and industrial occupancies.

For the past five years, Chief Heard has been responsible for AFRD's Technical Services Division, specifically Training, Logistics & Fleet Services and Facilities Management. In this role, he was directly involved with the major renovation of existing fire facilities, as well as the design and construction of new fire facilities within Atlanta Fire Rescue Department, most recently, Fire Station #3 which is located at Phipps Mall in Buckhead and placed in service on December 2018.

Chief Heard holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Management from Western Governors University. He is a National Fire Academy Management Science Program Alumnus, a Georgia Fire Academy Alumnus and a Georgia Public Safety Training Center Adjunct Instructor. Additionally, He has obtained his National Professional Qualifications (Pro Board) certification as an NPQ Instructor III and NPQ Evaluator, is certified as a NIMS (National Incident Management System) Instructor, and has served as Incident Commander, Deputy Incident Commander and Logistics Section Chief in the City of Atlanta’s Joint Operations Center during both planned and unplanned events.
Richard Heard