Chief Ken McMullen joined the Fire Service in 1997 as a Volunteer Fire Fighter and progressed through the Officer roles of Training, Fire Prevention and Fire Safety, as well as a certified Fire Investigator/Inspector. In 2009, Ken became the Assistant Deputy Chief with the Calgary Fire Department, and in 2018, Ken became the Chief of Emergency Services with The City of Red Deer. As the third largest municipality in Alberta, Red Deer Emergency Services is one of the few remaining fully integrated services comprising of 230 staff of Fire Fighter Paramedics, Dispatchers, Fire Prevention Officers, and Administration.
Ken is also a member of CANADA Task Force 2, and during his tenure, he has been deployed to the Slave Lake Fire in 2010, the Calgary Floods in 2013, and as the Task Force Commander to the Wildfires in Fort McMurray in 2016, the Yukon Floods of 2021, the Wildfires of 2023, and most recently the Jasper Wildfires of 2024.
Ken is the President of the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs and holds board positions with the International Association of Fire Chiefs, where he continues to collaborate on legislative changes and advocacy initiatives that pertain to the Fire Service. In 2020, Ken was awarded Career Fire Chief of the Year for his unrelenting advocacy work on mental health support for first responders. He was recently awarded the President’s Award from the International Association of Fire Chiefs for his dedication to the fire service and the well-being of first responders.
