Chief David Povlitz, with over thirty years of experience in fire, rescue, and emergency medical services, was appointed the Fire Chief of the Arlington County Fire Department in Virginia in November 2018. Arlington County Fire Department has nine stations with 400 employees serving 26 square miles. David’s background includes information technology integration, emergency communications, training, and emergency management support. He is also an experienced incident commander, planning and operations section chief for large-scale incidents and complex events. He has over 20 years of experience in special operations, including hazardous materials, collapsed buildings, rope rescue, and technical, marine, and dive rescue incidents. David has served the Anne Arundel County Fire Department in Maryland and retired as a division chief. He then moved to the Alexandria Fire Department, where he served as an assistant chief, focusing on administration.
Chief Povlitz has strong relationships with city, county, state, and regional public safety agencies in another key area. He has served on various Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments committees and workgroups and many programs within the Baltimore Regional Urban Security Initiative. David is interested in partnering with many departments and agencies to improve public safety. In addition, he sees many opportunities to deploy technology to reduce community and first responder risk within emergency services.
