Mark Carr

Fire Chief, New Britain, CT

Mark Carr is the Fire Chief for New Britain, Connecticut and the city’s first and only minority officer in the department’s 190 year history.

Mark began his career as a firefighter in the London Fire Brigade in 1987, working his way up through the ranks to become London’s highest ranking black fire officer. As a Borough Commander, Mark’s operational responsibilities included London’s southern sector—a 200 square-mile area with approximately 3 million residents, served by 2,400 firefighters.

As a member of the London Fire Brigade’s operational planning and tactics group, his responsibilities included developing operational strategy which involved the coordination and planning for community safety and diversity initiatives. Mark led a national fire service team in England that developed a fire response and risk management methodology which has since become a statutory requirement for all UK fire departments.

Mark received an undergraduate degree in management and a master’s degree in business administration from Thames Valley University. He obtained tactical fire certifications from the University of Lancashire in England and all fire service qualifications from the International Fire Service College in the UK. Mark is a graduate and member of the Institution of Fire Engineers. In addition to completing Harvard University’s Senior Executives in State & Local Government Program, Mark is a graduate of the U.S. Executive Fire Officer Program, and a Chief Fire Officer designee. Mark is a member of NFPA and a member of IAFC’s Human Relations Committee.